Mokushiroku
by Spottedeyes
Summary: Team Plasma has won the final battle, Unova is theirs to control. Twelve years after Unova is enslaved, a young girl called Hailey finds something in the forest that could turn the tables- only she can win her region back.
1. Chapter 1

** Mokushiroku:**

Chapter one: A new friend

_ And in conclusion, I think Lord N won because Lady Touko wasn't thinking straight… _A little nine year old girl wrote, struggling to find a better answer to the question on her test.

"Five more minutes, class." Ms. Reggie said sharply, smearing five lines of chalk on the board.

"Um… urm…" She choked, her hand jittering in nerves, knowing that the King himself would be reading these. The girl let out a growl of frustration as her thin, frail, gnarled, stumpy wood pencil snapped into two. She reluctantly loosened her grip on the shorter half of the pencil, being that it was the half that had the led tip.

_And in conclusion, I think Lord N won because he knew the truth. _She finished, letting out a sigh of relief as Ms. Reggie erased one of the tallies, leaving only four.

Her sea colored eyes floated to her classmates' papers, watching as beads of sweat formed at their foreheads as they murmured nervously to themselves.

The only noise in the room was the quiet grumbles of students and the sound of pencil on paper.

Ms. Reggie strode over to the little girl's desk and peered down at her paper. "Hailey, your name. Don't forget your name, ok?" She said before walking back to the chalkboard, erasing three more tallies, leaving only one.

Hailey sighed and nervously wrote her name down next to the rest of her personal information. Schools these days required that your street name, address, phone number, full name (middle name included), and age. She gulped, feeling old lacerations reopen on her back. Hailey shivered, remembering the first time she messed up and got sent 'out back' to get reminded of the school's policy.

Hailey has been sent 'out back' right around four or maybe five times just because she forgot her address or how to spell her street's name, so she had left it blank. Sage Ghetsis did not appreciate 'her disrespectful behavior' and said that she must be punished.

Hailey wasn't the only child to get sent 'out back'. Every child, every adult, every elder had long scars draped over their shoulders and carved into their backs. Anyone who forgot to write personal information to verify that it was you, left city boundaries, or interacted with a Pokémon would be punished. Anyone who dared to attempt to catch or battle a Pokémon, or planned an uprising would be put to death.

"Hailey! What did we just talk about this morning?" Ms. Reggie glowered, writing her name on the board.

Hailey let out a quiet gasp, straightening her posture, crossing her legs neatly beneath her desk, and folding her hands together atop of the desk. "Sorry, Ms. Reggie." She murmured, not meeting her teacher's gaze.

"See me after class."

Hailey gulped, knowing what would happen to her during her extended stay in the classroom. "Yes, Ms. Reggie."

A few of her classmates shot her brief sympathetic gazes, some even mouthing "I'm sorry." to her.

Hailey's classroom was never loud, no spitballs were launched, no paper airplanes took flight, no toys were smuggled into the classroom, no back talking ever occurred, no notes were passed, no side conversations took place. It was a stiff, stale aired classroom. Children only spoke if it was to ask to use the restroom, go to the nurses' office, ask a reasonable question, or answer a question.

"Everyone, pack your stuff then turn in your essays before you leave. The bell's about to leave." Ms. Reggie said, erasing the final tally mark on the board.

Hailey turned in her paper, put her stuff away like she was supposed to, then folded her hands and crossed her legs and straightened her back while she waited for her classmates to clear out. Once every child had left, Ms. Reggie turned to Hailey.

"Hailey," she exhaled sharply, beginning to draw a poorly drawn stick figure on the chalk board. "THIS is what you looked like today." Ms. Reggie glared, backing away from the board so the little chocolate haired girl could see.

A stick figure sat at what looked like a desk, legs completely spread apart, hands on the stick figure's lap, and the figure's back was bent so it looked like the face was staring at the desk.

"What do you have to say for yourself? You're lucky that I like you, Hailey. If it had been John or Claire who'd done this I would've sent them out back before class was over." Ms. Reggie spat, her voice like venom.

Hailey flinched, forcing herself to keep eye-contact with the chocolate-eyed teacher. "I… I was just really nervous. I mean, the Lord himself will be reading my paper so I guess I just lost focus. I apologize for my offensive behavior… it won't happen again." Hailey promised, breaking eye contact with her curly haired teacher.

"Good. But remember, if this happens again I won't go easy on you." She warned, dismissing the girl.

Hailey nodded, stringing her backpack over her thin shoulders. "Thank you, see you on Monday." She whispered, speed walking out of the room.

XXX

The oak's shade revived Hailey in a way, making her almost forget what happened earlier that day- the essay, the slouching, the stick figure. The castle was in her view, only a block or two away from her school and home. She smiled as she flipped another page in the book she was reading, _The Pecha Fields_. It was assigned by Ms. Reggie, but Hailey loved reading, so she didn't mind.

Hailey quickly became engrossed in the novel, ignoring the neighborhood kids as they waved at her or said "hello Hailey." The only thing that would ever get the young girl out of her reading trance was if someone pinched, patted, or tore the book from her hands. The girl still took in the background noise, but it went in one ear and out the other, she wouldn't remember a thing that happened around her.

_Samuel then reached across the river and grabbed the ripened berry by its stem- _Two paws interrupted her reading as they slapped onto her thighs.

"Ra, Zor!"

Hailey gasped, dropping her book midsentence. She scrambled to her feet, quickly realizing what was in front of her. "No, no, no, no! Get away from me!" Hailey pleaded, shooing the Zorua away from her, her blue eyes wide.

"There you are!" A young voice cried, quickly approaching Hailey and the shape-shifter. Hailey then looked up to see who it was now. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized who it was. It was Storm, the Lord's son.

She gasped. "Oh, um, erm, Prince, I am terribly sorry for shooing your Zorua away its just-"

"It's fine." He assured, clumsily picking the fox-Pokémon up.

"Please forgive me it was-"

"Relax, honest it's fine. Zorua's ok and that's all that matters." He smiled.

Hailey suddenly felt privileged to meet a child of such high authority. She began to observe him: his hair was a darker green, poufy looking like his father's, only his was neatly trimmed and cut to right around the mid section of his ears. His eyes were a sea-foam color and he wore rich fabricated clothing with polished leather shoes.

"How old are you?" He suddenly asked.

Hailey blinked in surprise. "I'm nine, how 'bout you?" She responded.

"Ten." He answered curtly.

We sat in awkward silence for a few moments.

"Who are you again?" Storm asked, struggling to hold the Zorua in his arms.

"Oh, I'm Hailey. I live right in that house across the street." She said clumsily, uncomfortable that the Prince and a Pokémon, no HIS Pokémon were so close to me.

"Would you like to pet Zorua?" Storm offered, looking at the fluffy red tuft of fur atop the Pokémon's head.

"A-are you sure? W-will I get in trouble?" Hailey asked nervously.

"I know you won't hurt him so why not? I'm just as powerful as my dad, the guards will listen to me if I say that I gave you permission to pet him." Storm assured, suddenly lifting Zorua into Hailey's arms. Hailey looked at him in surprise as she took the Pokémon into her arms.

"B-but you said I could only pet him."

Storm shrugged. "I figured that this will probably be the only time you get to interact with a Pokémon, so you should get to hold him. Isn't he soft?" He inquired, smiling as the Zorua licked her cheeks.

Hailey laughed silently, as she was afraid to laugh aloud. Her eyes shone with pleasure as she patted the dark-type's head. She sat back down, letting the Pokémon settle in her lap. Zorua fit naturally in the cusp of her lap, like a puzzle piece. "I wish I could have a Pokémon live with me… they seem so sweet." Hailey murmured, not meeting Storm's gaze.

"But you can't. What if you mistreated it? What if you decided to make it fight unnecessary battles for your own amusement? What if the Pokémon wanted to leave and you wouldn't let him?" Storm contradicted, his eyes filling with horror with the idea.

"But… you have one." She said quietly, a tear dripping from her eyes.

"It's different though." He insisted, plucking the Zorua out of Hailey's lap, much to her dismay. Hailey scrambled to her feet.

"Can you… maybe stop by tomorrow? I don't have school and I'm gonna finish all my homework in less than thirty minutes tonight…" Hailey asked sheepishly, awaiting his response.

"Maybe. Depends on what happens tomorrow morning. Now, Zorua and I must be going now, otherwise I might get sun burnt." He said, turning to leave.

"Wait! You just call him Zorua?" Hailey asked. Storm stopped and turned his head towards the suddenly talkative girl.

"Yeah… why?"

"Why doesn't he have a name? You and I have names, but not him?"

"Yeah… I guess you're right."

"You should call him Illie!" Hailey giggled, looking thoughtfully at the Pokémon.

Storm rose an eyebrow. "Illie?"

"It's short for Illusion! Last week I read a book about Zorua and it said that they are the illusion Pokémon, so why not Illie?"

"Ok, I'll think about names, but I just can't call him Illie."

"Yay!"

XXX

She had waited hours for Storm and he hadn't showed up, so Hailey decided that rather than to waste her very limited free time, she should do something worthwhile.

Her mother and father were at work at the time, so she wrote a note for them and posted it on the door, explaining that she was going to walk around the town. She smiled in satisfaction at her penmanship as she began to walk to the town's boarder: Champion's Forest. She was of course forbidden to enter, but nothing in the rules forbid her to look at it, or go next to it, so she left for the Champion's Forest.

XXX

The cooing of Pidove and the screeches from bickering Sewaddle were the only sounds in the forest that lay less than a foot away from her. Some of the Pokémon in the forest shot her awkward or confused looks, some looked irate that she was there, and others didn't seem to mind. But none seemed thrilled that Hailey was here.

Hailey continued to peer deep into the forest, straining her eyes, hungry to see more of the mossy forest.

Hailey suppressed a shriek of surprise when a Pidove landed just in front of her, looking thoughtfully at the young girl with its innocent look. "Dove?" It cooed, taking a glance at the girl before fluttering back into the forest.

Hailey gave a sigh of relief. She could breathe again.

Hailey took a glance around to see if any forest patrol guards were watching before running her hand over the smooth, moist, mossy bark of a tree trunk. It felt cool on her hands, she wanted more.

The boundary long forgotten, she stepped into the forest examining each towering tree, ignoring the shocked looks of the wild Pokémon, as they hadn't seen a human in their forest in almost twelve years. She shrugged their bewilderment off and continued deeper into the forest.

But, she wasn't looking at the ground. She let out a gasp as she tripped, falling on her knees. Hailey looked back at what had tripped her. Her eyes widened to the size of moons. "No way." She said, looking back at an object that was thought to be non-existent in Unova.

There it was, moss coated with its color drained and faded, the outer layer chipped from being left here untouched for twelve years:

Hailey had just tripped over the red and white sphere known as a poke ball.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Choices

With trembling hands Hailey began to pick the moss off the poke ball as she wondered what she should do with it. Her first instinct was to turn it into the castle, but then the sages would ask where she found the device. Hailey knew that if she said that she found the sphere in the woods that she'd be brutally punished.

A new idea flashed into the girl's head, rather than just let the Pokémon that's inside go or turn it into the Lord or the sages, she could do what her older brother did: runaway. He didn't run away with a Pokémon, he just happened to find an unguarded spot along what used to be known as Victory Road. Hailey's Mother and Father were with him, they told him to run and never come back, to find a better life outside of the monarchy.

Hailey regretted not running away with him, she was only four at the time. Her brother, Eric, was either nine or ten when he ran off, so he must be around fourteen or fifteen years old, if he made it out of Unova alive that is.

The young girl looked thoughtfully at the ball, wondering if it would be worth running away. There was no telling if there was even a Pokémon in the ball at all, or how big it would be, or how aggressive it would be. She was sorely tempted to just drop the poke ball and leave it behind, save her the trouble. But, if she turned back she may never get another chance to escape. And her mother and father always told her to runaway at any chance she got. They had told Hailey that Eric was planning on running away to Kanto so he could get a powerful Pokémon team that he could free Unova with, so Hailey and her family could have a better life. She planned on doing the same; if she escaped that is.

Hailey froze, she always told herself that she would run far away if she ever got the chance, but now that she was actually given the chance to leave her abusive environment… it was different for her.

Her thoughts flickered back to Storm and his Zorua. What he'd said about why he didn't think she should have a Pokémon. Was he right? And what about her parents? What would they think when she never came home? The note she left only said that she was going to walk around town, not running away from home.

Hailey bit her lip, picking off the last bit of moss before hesitantly enlarging the faded red and white object. She took a deep breath.

Inhale.

Exhale.

"G-go p-Pokémon." She stuttered quietly, pushing the rusted white centre of the ball. She held back a scream as a blinding white light shot out of the ball, quickly fading away to reveal a Pokémon that her class hadn't ever talked about before. Whatever it was, it was around the size of Zorua, with big ears and a poufy tail with soft, plush looking brown fur.

Hailey's hands automatically went to her own hair, comparing herself to the brown creature. The Pokémon stared at Hailey for a moment before looking wildly around itself, as if it was looking for someone.

"Vee? Eve!" It cried, looking up, then down, then behind itself, then to its right, then to its left.

"H-hi! M-my name's Hail-Hailey, look, we both have brown hair." She stammered, showing the creature her shoulder-cut chocolate brown hair.

The creature eyed her suspiciously, not sure of what to do.

"W-what's your name?" She asked.

"Eve!" It cried, looking worriedly at Hailey.

A glint of gold brought the brunet's eyes to the Pokémon's fluffy chest. She got on her knees, not caring about the mud that coated her legs.

"What's that?" She asked, slowly reaching for the Pokémon's fluffy mane.

The Pokémon, seeing Hailey's intentions, coated its tail in iron, holding it defensively in front of itself. "Vee…" The Pokémon growled, glaring at Hailey. Hailey flinched, barely holding back a scream.

"Please just let me look at it! I-I know what it means to have something. Have something important to you. I promise I'll give it back." Hailey swore, her eyes wide.

The two locked gazes in silence for several seconds before the brown fox-like Pokémon slowly lowered its tail, the iron disappearing.

Hailey's eyes glimmered in surprise, gently pulling a gold chain off the Pokémon's neck. The young girl's gaze strayed from the beautifully crafted gold chain to the charm that lay in the center: a crystal studded gold locket. Empowered with curiosity, she opened the heart.

On the left half of the locket was a picture of a girl that looked around the age of sixteen, she had long turquoise colored pig tails. She wore clothes that looked even more expensive than Storm's clothes, (and that's saying something) a white jacket with a light blue tank top underneath it. And to top off her expensive clothing, she wore multiple gold necklaces and what looked like real diamond earrings. The girl wore a contagious smile, and in her arms was the Pokémon that was wearing the necklace itself. Hailey's eyes flickered to the right side, which had the words 'Undella Town, 1256 Beach court' carved into the gold.

Hailey blinked in surprise. "Un… Undel?" She asked, looking to the Pokémon for conformation.

The little brown Pokémon shook its head no.

"Undella? Undella town?" She reconfirmed.

A smile appeared on the Pokémon's face, giving a nod.

"You're from a place called Undella town? I don't know what that is. Is it in another region? Because you're in Unova, you know that right?" Hailey asked, waiting for the creature's response.

A worried expression formed on the Pokémon's face. "Vee! Eve?" It asked, tears budding in its eyes.

Hailey's eyes softened. "You've been in this poke ball for at least twelve years, a lot may have changed since you got lost out here."

The Pokémon's eyes widened. "VEE? Eevee!" It wailed, quickly panicking.

"P-please calm down! I'm not supposed to be in this forest you see, I live in Unova's only town, Crown City, a-and if I get caught out here… oh I don't want to think of what's gonna happen to me. Please keep it quiet, if the King hears your cries, I'll be done for!" Hailey pleaded, her expression desperate.

The Pokémon forced itself to be quiet, its body still racked with sorrow and panic.

"Now, urm… I don't want to be rude here, but are you a guy or a girl?" Hailey asked sheepishly.

At this point the Pokémon didn't seem offended, its ears were drooping and its tail was wrapped tightly around its body.

"So… are you a guy?" She asked.

The Pokémon slowly hook its head.

"So you're a girl then?"

The Pokémon nodded sadly.

"D-do you have a name? Everyone needs a name." Hailey insisted, awaiting another half-hearted response.

Her gaze floated from her paws back to the locket. Hailey decided to continue to examine the piece of jewelry. She snapped it shut, looking for any indentations on the locket's outside. Sure enough, on the front of the locket was the word, 'Lilly.'

"Lilly?" Hailey echoed.

The Pokémon looked up at the sound of her name.

"Ok, so your name's Lilly. Now, what kind of Pokémon are you? In school we only learn about Unovian Pokémon, not other ones too." Hailey said.

"Eevee! Eve, Eevee!" It cried, repeating her name over and over again.

"So, you're an… Eve? Eevee?" Hailey replied.

Lilly nodded, finally meeting Hailey's gaze. "Ok. So, Lilly, would you be willing to… to… help me? I… I really want to find my brother who managed to escape a few years ago. I… I want to dethrone the King, you know? Free Unova. I really want to see what it used to be like, back when my parents were kids. But I can't just go by myself. I'm too scared. If you come with me… Oh forget it. I won't make it out, not if I go through Victory Road, or if I keep going through the woods. And you're not a water type so I can't escape by sea. Here," Hailey said, putting the gold necklace back on the Eevee's neck.

"You're free to do whatever you want now- but I have to go back home, I've been gone for too long." Hailey then began to go back to the boarder, leaving Lilly all alone.

"Vee!" She cried, trotting after her.

The girl stopped. "I-I'm sorry… but you can't come home with me. Pokémon are not to be living with people… not anymore." Hailey felt her heart snap into two as she forced herself to not look back at the miserable Eevee.

"Ow! Hey, I told you no!" She finally snapped, turning around to see that Lilly had thrown her own poke ball at her.

Hailey sighed.

"I know I'm gonna regret this, Lilly, return." Hailey said, repeating the words that she'd heard in her history lectures. The Eevee and the necklace were instantly teleported back into the aged ball. Hailey pushed the button, minimizing it and stuffing it in her pocket.

She then turned her attention to her muddy legs. If any guard saw this they'd know where Hailey had been. Most of it had dried onto her legs now, so Hailey began to chip away at the mud with her hands, crumbling just about every last bit of mud off her legs.

"Hailey?! Hailey you out here?" A familiar voice yelled, footsteps nearing Hailey.

She stiffened before sprinting as fast as she could out of the forest, her hand made tan dress slapping her calves as she ran.

"Hailey?" The voice asked again.

"Yeah?" Hailey replied, out of breath be the time she got back to the boundary.

Storm then came into her sight, his Zorua trotting faithfully by his side. Hailey took a deep breath and forced herself to act like she hadn't just broken two laws in less than an hour.

"Sorry I wasn't at your house earlier, I went to the wrong street… then I saw that you left a note on the door and Zorua told me that you went to the forest boundary." He explained, smiling at his companion.

Hailey began to sweat a little. "Wait… you actually, you know, understand Zorua?"

"Of course, I picked up my ability from my father." Storm said blankly, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"A-and Z-Zorua can track things?" She asked, wide eyed in horror, as the fox-like Pokémon could tell the boy that she'd been in the woods.

Storm looked curiously behind Hailey. "Did you go in the woods?" He asked.

Hailey froze. "N-n-no!" She stammered, starting to shake.

"But there are foot prints in the mud right behind you. Don't lie to me, Hailey." Storm warned, narrowing his eyes.

The boy was a haunting figure for his age, able to scare the living daylights out of Hailey with even a simple phrase.

Zorua turned to the boy and began to yip and bark at him. Storm's eyes widened, his head snapping back to Hailey. "You have one, don't you!" Storm accused, pointing at Hailey's pocket.

"H-have what?" Hailey asked, on the verge of tears.

"A Pokémon! You're keeping one captive! I can hear it speaking from inside a poke ball!" He snarled, a vein popping out of his left temple.

Hailey broke down. "I'm sorry! It's just I got so caught up in the forest that I didn't even realize that I passed the boarder, then I tripped over this old poke ball! A-and there was this Pokémon called Lilly inside of it a-a-and it was just so sad because she didn't know where she was, o-or where her trainer was or anything!" Hailey wailed, sinking to her knees.

"Why didn't you just release it then? Why did you take it?" He snapped, clearly angry with her.

"I-I tried, honest! I told her that she couldn't come with me, but she kept following me so I just ended up taking her with me!" Hailey sniffled.

"Let it out of the poke ball." Storm demanded.

Desperate to evade execution, Hailey obeyed, letting the Eevee out.

"Vee?" Lilly yawned, looking at me, then her eyes strayed to Storm. She shrunk down, trotting behind Hailey.

Storm's eyes grew wide. "That's not a Unovian Pokémon!" He exclaimed, "that's a Kanto and Johto Pokémon!"

Hailey felt a little protective of the chocolate colored Pokémon at this point, so she allowed Lilly to hind behind her. "I haven't hurt her or anything." Hailey assured, looking back at the frightened Eevee.

"Zor?" Zorua yipped, walking behind her to talk to the normal type.

The two exchanged some awkward yips and cries before Zorua gave Storm his 'status report' on Lilly.

Storm sighed. "I guess Eevee really likes you… how strange. You met less than an hour ago and she already likes you." Storm said with a hint of envy in his voice.

Hailey nodded slowly. "Can I please take her home now? The poor thing hasn't eaten in over ten years!" She asked.

Storm shook his head. "No. You can't keep her, give the poke ball to me. My father will insist that she stays with us." Storm ordered, extending his hand.

Hailey bit her lip and looked sadly at the Eevee. "Sorry Lilly," she croaked, "but either you… you get good food to eat and a nice place to sleep or I die." The girl placed the nearly broken ball in his hand.

Satisfied, Storm turned to Lilly. "Alright, Lilly is it? Time to go to the castle." Storm said, gesturing for the Eevee to follow him.

She didn't.

"Vee." Lilly said stubbornly, wrapping her fluffy tail around half of Hailey's waist.

"Lilly, please just… just go with him!" Hailey pleaded, beginning to cry softly again.

Lilly closed her eyes tightly and violently shook her head. "Eve…"

Storm sighed. "I didn't want to have to do this, but Lilly, return." Storm said, shooting a retracting red beam at Lilly, who nimbly dodged the beam, glaring at him.

"Vee…" She growled, a sinister looking black and purple sphere forming in her jaws. "Lilly, stop!" Hailey cried, her vision blurred by tears. Lilly hesitated before launching the sphere into the woods, away from both Hailey, Storm, herself, and Zorua.

She shot Hailey a longing look before taking off into the forest, her tail bobbing as she ran.

"Lilly!" Hailey cried, running after the Eevee and ignoring Storm's orders to stop.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The one that got away

Hailey continued weaving through trees and brush as she followed Lilly's bobbing tail. "LILLY! STOP!" She pleaded, starting to get tunnel vision, as she wasn't very conditioned.

Apparently, Lilly wasn't in shape either, as she began to slow down. Hailey soon caught up to the exhausted Eevee, picking it up in her arms.

"Vee…" Lilly purred, glad that Storm hadn't gotten her.

Hailey sighed. "Lilly, you know we have to go back right?" Lilly looked skeptically at Hailey, raising an eyebrow as if to say, 'says who?'

In a sudden realization, Hailey realized that Lilly was right; no one was here to stop them. "So, I guess now's the time to find Eric and free Unova." Hailey said, smiling faintly.

Lilly smiled optimistically. Their gazes locked for several seconds until Lilly appeared to be alarmed, her ears pricked and her eyes narrowed.

She hopped out of Hailey's arms, pushing her head against Hailey's leg as if she was trying to make her move. "W-what is it?" Hailey asked nervously, backing away slowly.

"Eevee!" Lilly cried, looking behind Hailey.

"Huh?" Hailey said as she turned around.

The girl widened her eyes, screaming as a Plasma guard grabbed her and picked the petite nine-year old off the ground so her feet weren't touching the ground. "Gotcha!" He laughed cruelly, enjoying the girl's terror. Lilly narrowed her eyes and growled at the guard. "Oh, wanna go, Pipsqueak?" He taunted, flicking a poke ball off his belt as Hailey continued to scream and struggle in his grasp.

"Pard…" His Pokémon, a Liepard, growled, flicking her tail in irritation.

"Take that fur ball back to Crown City." He commanded, glowering at Lilly.

"Lilly!" Hailey cried, only to be slapped by the Plasma guard.

The Liepard purred in response, closing in on the Eevee.

"Fight back, Lilly! D-don't give up!" Hailey pleaded, only to be slapped again.

"Be quiet, girl before I make you sorry!" The guard snarled.

Hailey, however, ignored his threat. The Liepard leapt at Lilly, claws outstretched.

"Dodge it!" She yelled, tears running down her reddened and quickly bruising cheeks. Lilly barely dodged the attack, her eyes wild with fear, indicating that she'd never really battled before. "Counter with iron-" Hailey was cut off mid command by the guard, who promptly pinned her down.

"I warned you, but no! You just couldn't be a good little girl, now could you?" He sneered, pulling a whip from his utility belt.

"No! Please don't, sir!" Hailey pleaded, screaming in extreme pain as the whip struck her through her dress, angry red marks redrawing themselves overtop her older scars.

The petite girl continued to ball her eyes out as the whip eventually tore holes through her already rugged dress. "Stop it!" She wailed, her pain increasing as the angry red marks turned into open bleeding wounds, blood soaking her dress as it rained down her back.

Whip.

Whip.

Whip.

Hailey blacked out.

XXX

"Hailey? Hailey wake up… please…" A familiar voice pleaded, running a hand gently over Hailey's cheek. At the feel of contact, Hailey's blue eyes shot open, quickly taking in her surroundings.

"Mother?" She rasped, sitting up.

Hailey's mother gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness!"

"What where you doing out there?" Her father demanded, secretly already knowing the answer.

"T-the… Lilly!" Hailey said, still getting over her initial shock.

"You gave it your best shot, Hailey." Her father sighed, clearly unsettled by something.

"W-what's wrong?" Hailey asked.

"They're… they're…" Hailey's mother started before breaking down.

Hailey opened her eyes wide. "A-am I- am are they gonna execute me?"

Hailey's father nodded solemnly.

Hailey started to cry silently, unable to believe that this was happening to her.

Her father stayed strong, not wanting to look weak. He gave a sigh. "But, you're still too young, legally in order to be executed you must be at least ten years old. So you have four days." His voice quavered, as though the thought of losing his last child was too much.

The family stayed quiet for what seemed to be a long time before her father began to speak once more.

"You… you have to get out of here, Hailey. And I'll get you out of this hell-hole myself if I must. You will go back to the forest and look for that Eevee of yours, you will runaway and get away this time. You will find Eric in one of the other regions. You will NOT be executed."

Hailey did nothing more than nod as she cried in her mother's arms.

XXX

Three days had passed since the day Hailey had learned of her execution date. She was jumpy, always on her toes. _I should be celebrating, my birthday's tomorrow for Arceus's sake! But no! I just had to chase after Lilly and get myself into this… _Hailey thought miserably as she walked quietly down the dirt path, not meeting any of the residents' or the guards' gazes.

Her execution was to happen tomorrow, and despite her father's attempts to get Hailey back into the forest, the young girl refused to go. Hailey had still gone to school for the past two days, despite the fact that she was throwing her last days away getting lectured by Ms. Reggie.

When Ms. Reggie asked Hailey why she was still going to school, Hailey said that she 'was born a good student, and she wanted to die a good student.'

Storm and Zorua hadn't come to her house ever since Hailey had almost run away with the Eevee, much to her relief. The young girl was still amazed that Lilly had been able to fend off the guard's Liepard and somehow escape Team Plasma's grasp. She was a fighter, something Hailey admired about her.

"Hope you find your trainer, Lilly." Hailey whispered under her breath as she looked in the forest's direction.

She stopped walking and gritted her teeth.

"I… I can't give up. Not yet." She mumbled, walking inconspicuously to the forest.

XXX

Much to Hailey's relief, no one was guarding the forest at this time of day, as it was the hottest time of the day. Temperatures varied from 80 degrees to 99 degrees (F), making just about everyone stay inside. The guards would slack off at this time of day, often sleeping in the shade or hiding in the castle's basement to keep cool.

She wiped sweat from her forehead off, licking her lips nervously as she stepped into the cooler forest once more. "Lilly? Lilly! It's me, Hailey! Come out please!" Hailey said rather loudly as she walked through the forest in her still ripped and muddy dress.

"Lilly?" Her voice quavered, the forest feeling eerie and unsettling to the little girl.

"Pard?" Hailey stiffened. Was it the guard's Liepard again? A Liepard's head poked out from behind a thick cluster of pines, its gaze brightening at the sight of Hailey.

"Lie!" It purred cheerfully, stepping gracefully towards the petrified girl.

"Lie! Pard, Lie!" It cried, flicking it's long, barb-like tail as though beckoning for something.

"Vee!" A familiar cry of delight filled Hailey's ears.

In a split second Lilly came bursting from behind the cluster of trees, tackling Hailey to the ground. "L-Lilly?" Hailey spluttered, sitting up while the Eevee nuzzled her cheek. "What? How-?" Hailey stopped talking when another figure appeared from the trees: a girl, around the age of eighteen, maybe even twenty.

She had long, wavy green hair and green eyes and was wearing a, you guessed it, GREEN belly-shirt and a pair of worn down GREEN tennis shoes and blue jean shorts with a GREEN backpack. "So, Lilly was telling me the truth." She mused, getting closer to Hailey.

"W-who are you?" Hailey asked, her eyes wide with fear.

She chuckled before replying. "My name's Hope. And you're Hailey, right?" Hope asked, awaiting a nod.

"H-how do you k-know my name?" Hailey asked. Ignoring Hailey's question, she continued. "Lilly has told me a lot about you. How you helped her escape not only her poke ball… but Team Plasma as well. You are truly something." Hope complimented, her smile warm, yet unsettling.

Hailey narrowed her eyes. "How do you know what Lilly said? How do you even know her name? Only the King and Storm can speak to Pokémon."

Hope growled a little. "How… how can you stand those two? Especially your… your _king_. It's absolutely revolting! Screw Pokémon liberation! If Pokémon didn't like people they would've killed us all by now! Or at least left their trainers!" Hope spat bitterly, her eyes burning with an intense fire.

Hailey did not dare to speak to the angered young lady.

Hope took a deep breath. "Ok. Sorry about that. Anyway, yes, I speak with Pokémon. Not through their speech, but through their minds. They can all read my mind, and I can read theirs. Unfortunately, I can't read peoples' minds though…" Hope said, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Why are you out here?" Hailey squeaked, holding Lilly closer to her.

"Oh, well you see, my friends, Jacob, Crystal, and Clyde and myself of course, basically surround Crown City. My Pokémon and I are in charge of the forest, Jacob's in charge of what used to be Victory Road, Crystal's in charge of the sea, and Clyde's in charge of the sky.

Hailey's head naturally tilted to the left. "So… what exactly do you guys do, and do you all understand Pokémon, or is it just you?" She asked, her interest peaking.

"Well, we all understand Pokémon, I'm just the only one that can only understand them telepathically. The others can only understand Pokémon verbally. And we're former Pokémon rangers of Unova. Our main goal is to help people like you escape, you know? Get out of this place while we plot to overthrow them." Hope explained, smiling at her Liepard who looked at her knowingly.

Her eyes brightened. "Have you ever met a boy called Eric?" Hailey asked hopefully.

"Unless he went through the forest to escape, then no." Hope said, much to Hailey's dismay.

"Wait! Which one of you guys stays in Victory Road?" Hailey asked.

"Oh, that would be Jacob."

"Well can you take me to Jacob? Eric's my brother and I want to find him."

"Yeah sure." Hope said, releasing a dinosaur-like GREEN Pokémon with yellow banana-like fruits growing from its neck.

"Here, get on." Hope commanded, helping Hailey and Lilly onto the Pokémon before climbing on herself.

"What Pokémon is this?" Hailey asked, awe-struck.

She smiled. "This is a Troupis, a grass flying type from the Hoenn region. Every one of us has a flying type so we can all make a hasty retreat if we have to, and so we can all get to our meeting spot in no time at all. I picked Troupis because I use only grass and dark types, you know 'cuz it's the forest."

"But doesn't that make your Pokémon vulnerable to all the bug types?"

"Yeah, that's why all of us also have Herdiers or Stoutland so we can teach them things like flame thrower and thunder fang to help us in our weaker points." Hope explained, pulling out a large conch shell with its tip cut clean off.

"What's that?"

"This is a conch shell, if you blow into the cut off part than it makes a loud sound. So it's what the four of us use to communicate with, since we can't use our stylers."

"Why can't you use your ranger stylers?"

"Because with Plasma's advanced technology, they can track our signals and catch us, and kill us."

"I'm supposed to be executed tomorrow…"

"What?! Why?"

"Because I befriended Lilly."

"I am honestly sick of those monsters! Look, Hailey, if you're telling the truth, then we have to get you out NOW." Hope said, urging her Troupis to get a move on.

"Troup!" It cried, taking off.

"Wait! Before we go… do you know where… where Undella Town is?" Hailey asked quietly as they took off.

Hope stiffened. "I don't think you want to see ANY of the old towns and cities."

"Why not? Can't you just show us a little?"

"Vee?"

"You guys… this isn't a good idea."

"Just a couple! Please?"

"Fine, Troupis, take us to Nacrene City."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Barbarity at its finest

Hailey squinted as wind blasted her face, clutching Lilly close to her chest in fear that she'd fall to her death. The nine year old peered at Hope's face. It was tight and serious and stern, she didn't look like she wanted to answer any more of Hailey's questions, or talk period.

"I… I'm really glad that I found you, out in the woods." Hailey murmured into Lilly's ear.

"Eve." Lilly smiled back up at Hailey.

Hope suddenly cleared her throat. "Alright, we've arrived in Nacrene city, or at least what's left of it." She said as Tropuis neared the ground.

Hailey gasped, looking around at what apparently used to be a city.

There where bones- some intact, others snapped or ground to dust- hunks of concrete- chipped away and sunken in the bottoms of destroyed asphalt- teddy bears and childrens' toys- laying untouched lacking eyes and with limbs torn off, once colorful stacking blocks lay broken and faded, action figures missing torsos- once precious framed photos- splintered and torn and ripped and shredded and everything in between- electrical wires- still sparking and protruding dangerously out of concrete blocks and broken TVs and computers- old moldy food- hairy, stale, and crumbling like everything else in the town- old signs and labels- worn down, splintered, chipped, and blasted to smithereens. It was a truly horrifying scene.

"W-what… what happened?" Hailey asked, not taking her eyes off the bones that lay scattered, broken, and charred.

Hope's gaze darkened.

"Every city… that didn't… accept… Team Plasma's orders… they got blown up. They had army helicopters come and drop bombs on the rebelling towns. That's why there's not very many people in Unova anymore; most rebelled and this happened." Hope said quietly, staring emptily at her Tropuis's neck.

"But why? What did it use to look like here?" Hailey's voice quavered, tears budding at her innocent eyes.

"Look, kid… this… I can't talk right now…" Hope said quietly, obviously in great mental distress.

"Ok.." Hailey said quietly, sliding off Troupis, careful so Hope wouldn't notice her.

Lilly sprang onto her shoulder, making Hailey lose her balance.

"Eeep!" Hailey squeaked, quickly regaining her composure.

The brunet looked back at the older girl to make sure she wasn't upset by her dismounting Tropuis. Lilly's ears twitched, her head snapping sharply to the right.

"Vee!" She cried, pointing to some concrete blocks with her paw.

Hailey followed Lilly's gaze with interest. "What is it?" She asked, squinting her eyes.

"Herd…"

Hailey nearly jumped out of her skin. "W-what was that?"

"Der…"

Lilly hopped off Hailey's shoulder, taking a couple paces forward before turning back to see if Hailey was following her.

"Vee!" She cried urgently, willing for the little girl to follow her.

Hailey glanced back at Hope once more, only to see her still slumped over with her face in her hands.

_Perhaps she lived here… maybe that's why she's so devastated… _Hailey thought, hesitantly following the Eevee deeper into the destruction.

She gasped as an electrical wire nearly brushed her legs, the blue sparks dangerously close to her sun-burnt legs. Lilly growled Hailey a warning, as though scolding her for not watching where she was walking.

"Sorry…" She mumbled, speeding up so she was walking side-by-side with Lilly.

"Anyone here?" Hailey asks, looking closely at the concrete block as they neared it.

"Herd!"

Hailey barely suppressed a screech of surprise as a Herdier sorrowfully limped out from behind the block.

It looked crestfallen and forlorn, defeated in a way. It's fur was matted and poorly kept, the pitiful creature's pelt was clinging to its pathetic skeletal frame, it's nails rugged and long; digging into its paw pads. It's eyes were endless pools of depression, as if all was lost for the normal type.

"A… A Herdier?" Hailey said, surprised that any living things would be here at all.

It barked at Hailey and Lilly again as it padded through the rubble, nearing a partially standing structure. It was a little further out than the rest of the wreckage- and unlike the other buildings, the bottom half of the building was still mostly intact. The Herdier barked at Hailey and the Eevee once more before trotting into the half destroyed building.

Hailey and Lilly followed the deprived Herdier into the unstable structure, prepared for the worst.

Inside the building laid burnt and tarnished books, the floor was laden in ash and bits of dry wall. Hailey and Lilly exchanged worried glances.

"Her!" Herdier barked, as though commanding them to get a move on.

Hailey soundlessly nodded, following the Herdier deeper into the building. Herdier then began sniffing the ash coated ground, it's ears pricked. It let out a bark and began to dig at the damaged wood floor until it crumbled and snapped into splinters, creating a dark space beneath it. Herdier looked at Hailey once more, eyes dreary and sorrowful before hopping into the hole.

Hailey's eyes widened. "Herdier!" She cried, sliding through the hole after the malnourished Pokémon.

Lilly said nothing and followed Hailey faithfully down the hole.

XXX

The room was even ashier than the ground floor, and it was dark… very dark. Books and old broken relics that looked like they may have had some value at one point in time were consumed by the thick layers of ash and soot.

"Heeeerd!" Herdier let out a cry of anguish and sorrow in the darkness.

"W-what is it, Herdier?" Hailey asked nervously, beads of sweat forming on her forehead; tears awaiting to be released from her eyes.

"HAILEY? HAILEY WHERE ARE YOU?" Hope yelled from the ground floor.

"I'm down here!" Hailey squeaked, wondering if she had even heard her.

"Vee, eve!" Lilly chimed in, coughing as she inhaled some soot.

"Heeeerd!" Herdier cried once more, more grief filling it's yowl than the last.

Hailey turned to where she thought was Lilly. "Do you know flash? Or another attack that could light it up?" She asked, her voice quiet and unsure.

"Vee!" She heard a cry from the opposite side of her.

Suddenly, the sunlight grew stronger, shining through the hole that they'd all came in through and many other holes, indicating that this wasn't the first time Herdier came down here. Although the light was faint, Hailey still saw what Herdier was so distraught about. Tears began to roll down Hailey's cheeks as she began to sob quietly.

It was truly awful: there was a single human skeleton in the center of the room, ripped fabrics and even a few strands of curly afro-like black hair still lingering around the cracked skull.

There were two more skeletons- a rodent-like one, lying close, but not too close to the human skeleton; and another dog-like skeleton lying near what looked like used to be stairs, almost as though it died defending the room.

Hailey had no more words as she sunk into the ashy ground, her tears wetting the ash and soot down. Through her tears, she saw Herdier nudging the skull with a longing look. Too stunned to speak, Hailey just sat and watched Herdier grieve over what must've once been its trainer.

"Hailey? Hailey, are you down here?" Hope asked, climbing down the ash-ridden hole that Hailey, Lilly, and Herdier had used.

Hope looked at the skeletons unfazed. She grabbed Hailey's wrist and pulled her off the floor with a sigh. "I told you it wasn't pretty." She said, then turning her attention to Herdier, her eyes narrowed.

"I thought all her Pokémon… died... how are you still here?" She asked, tapping into its mind.

Hope recoiled, holding her head in pain. "That Pokémon does NOT want me reading its mind."

Hailey wiped her eyes clear of tears before turning to Hope. "We… we can't just leave it here, look how… how hungry he looks."

Hope sighed. "We have to. Tropuis doesn't have enough room for a Herdier too. If we had its poke ball than it'd be a different story, but we don't." "

Hope… is that skeleton… its trainer?"

"WAS," she corrected. "She was his trainer. Herdier once belonged to Lenora, Nacrene city's gym leader. I originally thought that it'd died with the Watchhog and the other Herdier and Lenora herself, but I guess not." Hope said thoughtfully.

"You… you're a ranger! You can't just leave him here to die with Lenora! In school it said so!" Hailey sobbed.

Hope bit her lip. "I WAS a ranger. I am not a ranger now though."

"C-can't Tropuis just use vine whip to carry Herdier? Or can't we just look for Herdier's ball?"

"Tropuis is tough, but not that tough. And it's likely that Herdier's poke ball was destroyed-"

"Well can't we just re-catch it? I-I'll take care of him." Hailey promised, new tears clouding her eyes.

Even Lilly looked saddened at the sight of Herdier and Lenora; her ears were flattened against her skull, her tail dipped in the ash and soot.

Hope gritted her teeth, pulling out an empty ball, turning to Hailey. "IF, and only if Herdier is technically a wild Pokémon and if he will come with you will I allow this." Hope said strictly, placing the poke ball in the palm of Hailey's right hand.

Hailey flashed Hope a grateful smile and steadily approached Herdier.

"Hey… H-Herdier… I… I know you're sad!" Hailey blurted out, causing Herdier to tear his gaze away from Lenora.

"But… you'll never feel better if you don't put the past behind you," Hailey said gently, more tears budding at the corners of her eyes. "Then you'll never feel happy again. Would.. would your trainer have wanted you to die like this? All matted and hungry and sad and alone? No. She would've wanted you to move on. It doesn't mean you can't love her anymore though. No matter where you go… no matter how far… no matter how daunting it may be… or how peaceful… she will stay in your heart." Hailey said, her tears leaving her eyes again as she slowly placed her hand on Herdier's head, rubbing his ears.

Herdier gave one last sorrowful look at Lenora's remains before licking Hailey's cheek. Hailey smiled slightly, offering the poke ball to Herdier.

Herdier then flicked the poke ball out of Hailey's hand, causing her to gasp.

"Herd!" Herdier barked, walking back to the scraps of clothing that still clung to Lenora's remains, nosing around the waist area until he found what he was looking for: a poke ball.

Herdier then offered the ball to Hailey, who hesitantly took it, the idea that it had been stuck to a dead person for many, many years a little unsettling for her. "Is this yours?" She asked quietly.

Herdier nodded, casting one last glance at Lenora before tapping himself into the poke ball.

Hope sighed, not in relief, not in gratitude, not in anything. It was just a sigh. "Now let's get a move on. Do you wish to see more? Because I purposely picked the less graphic destroyed city to show you. I'd personally say that Castelia city and Nimbasa City are the worst ones."

"I just want to see Undella town, for Lilly's sake. What if her trainer's still there?" Hailey pleaded, looking back at Lilly. Hope looked sadly at Hailey.

"No. Before they even began bombing the other cities, Undella Town was hit with a very powerful tsunami. Most died, but the few people that did survive all moved out of Undella Town." Hope said.

Hailey narrowed her swollen eyes. "Please. I need some kind of lead-"

"No. Get back on Tropuis and let's go."

"But what about Eric?"

"You can look for him yourself. We've lost too much time. You'll be just fine where I put you though. After all, you have two Pokémon now." Hope said, dragging Hailey towards the hole in the ceiling. Lilly hopped on Hailey's shoulder, knowing that it was nearly time to leave.

"But-"

"Come on, Hailey." Hope grumbled, hauling the young girl out of the hole.

"Hooope…" Hailey whined as Hope picked her up and carried her back to Tropuis, who greeted Hope with a nod and a grunt.

Hailey continued to protest even as Tropuis took off. Hailey winced as Lilly unsheathed her claws, digging into her shoulder as Tropuis got higher in the air.

"Here, Lilly." Hailey muttered, pulling the normal type off her shoulder and placing her in her lap. "Eve!" She cried, embracing the wind that blew on her facial fur.

Hailey smiled half-heartedly at Lilly, still stunned and pained at what her new Herdier had shown her. After a moment of silence, Hailey spoke.

"Hope… where are you taking me?" 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Blackthorn City

**Ok, I plan for this one to be right around the 3,000 word mark, so be prepared for a looong chapter**

"Johto. I'm taking you to Johto. It's where we take everyone that we recover from Unova." Hope said, not taking her eyes off the sky in front of her.

"Jo-to" Hailey echoed, trying to remember what Ms. Reggie had said about the other regions. Hope nodded. "Uh huh. Which Johto city would you like to live in?" She asked.

Hailey's eyes widened. "There's more than one town?" She asked in awe, unable to imagine it. Hope chuckled in amusement.

"Yes, there are many towns. Here, let me narrow it down for you. What do you like? Do you like the mountains, or the beach, or the forest, or lakes, or-"

"What are mountains?" Hailey blurted out, covering her mouth as an embarrassed blood blush worked its way onto her cheeks.

"Mountains are very big hills, the ones in Johto even have snow on them."

"Snow?"

"You'll see one day."

"Can I live in the town with the mountains?"

"Sure," Hope smiled, "Tropuis, to Blackthorn City."

XXX

Hailey cracked her back the best she could and stifled a yawn. She had slept on Tropuis last night and it hadn't exactly been a good night's sleep.

Hailey yielded a slight smile when she realized that it was her birthday today. "I did it." She grinned, her eyes heavy with sleep.

"Hm?" Hope asked, hearing that the girl had stirred.

"I survived another year. I'm not gonna get killed now." She smiled.

"Oh! It's your birthday?" Hope realized with a sudden jolt.

Hailey nodded.

"Well happy birthday, Hailey," Hope smiled.

"Thanks, but are we almost there?" Hailey asked hopefully.

Hope nodded. "Yep. Last night we flew over Kanto and now we're nearly to Blackthorn."

Hailey nodded in response, stroking Lilly's plush fur as she sat in her lap.

"So, Hailey. Do you think you're going to keep Lilly?" She asked.

Hailey blinked in surprise. "Unless I ever find her old trainer than I guess so." She shrugged, not taking her eyes off the sleeping Eevee.

XXX

_"Let me go!" A blue haired girl shrieked, fighting and kicking futilely in an attempt to break free. _

_The guard rose an eyebrow. "Will you release your Pokémon and give into Team Plasma's demands?"_

_ "Abandon my Pokémon and stay in your dingy little prison for the rest of my life? I think not." She spat, her cerulean eyes icy and threatening. _

_The accompanying guards opened tall, thick, jewel encrusted doors to reveal a large throne room. There was a large royal red rug spread on the marble flooring just in front of a golden throne with the king atop._

_ "Lord, we captured one of the… rebels." One guard said, giving a bow before stepping back so he could see the blue-haired girl. _

_ The king looked calmly at the girl, the false kind of calm though. His blood was boiling and his gaze was shaky as it seethed in rage. He forced his gaze away from the new captive. "Get as much information about all of the escaped citizens then lock her in prison and release her Pokémon." He ordered, sending them away. The guards nodded, dragging the girl out of the throne room for questioning._

_XXX _

_"Who are you?" A guard asked._

_ "None of your beedrill's wax." She glared, spitting right in his eye. _

_ The guard slapped her face, leaving Team Plasma's symbol imprinted on her cheek. "Don't make this difficult. Your name." He asked again. _

_"What's it to ya?" She asked dauntingly. _

_"Don't try me, girl." He growled, clutching her chin in his hands. _

_She rose an eyebrow. "Why not?" _

_ He rose a fist. "Whoa, whoa big fella, hit me and you'll get nothin' outa me." She warned, blowing strands of her hair from her face._

_ He lowered his fist slowly, his eye twitching. The blue haired girl smirked. She knew that she had him eating from her hands now. _

_Another guard neared them. "Captain, if I may." He began, reaching for her waist and pulling a poke ball from her belt. _

_ "What are you doing?" She asked through her teeth._

_ It was one thing to capture and question her and take her Pokémon right off her belt, but when anyone messed with her first Pokémon… it wouldn't end well. He then grabbed a gun from his utility belt and held it up to the poke ball. _

_ The girl gritted her teeth. "My name… my name is… Crystal." She broke, not able to bear losing any of her pokemon. _

_The guards exchanged eager glances and smirks. "That'a girl… now, tell us, where are the escaped citizens?"_

XXX

Tropuis began to land.

"Alright, now Hailey, when we get off I'm going to talk to the town's gym leader, Claire. I'm going to ask her if there's any foster families for you- unless you're planning on traveling?" She inquired.

Hailey shook her head. "No… I don't think I am."

"You sure?"

Hailey nods and quietly says, "I'm sure. I've never been without other people before… I don't know how I'd do by myself."

"Alright then. If you're sure." She shrugged, urging for Tropuis to hurry and land.

"Tro…" It growled, indicating that it was tired and didn't want to be pushed.

"Sorry." Hope mumbled, sitting up straight as Blackthorn came into view. Tropuis landed beside the Pokecenter with a thud, giving a roar of triumph before settling down to rest.

Hope flashed Tropuis a grateful glance as she helped Hailey and Lilly off his back.

"Thanks, buddy." She smiled, patting the grass/flying type on its neck.

Hope turned to Hailey. "Hailey, I'm going to speak to the gym leader about you- so just don't leave Blackthorn while I'm gone, ok?" She said sternly, briskly walking towards the largest building.

"Wait!" Hailey cried, stumbling after the young adult. "Please… can Lilly and I come with?" She asked shyly, completely ill prepared for Lilly to suddenly sprang onto her shoulders.

"Ah! Lilly!" Hailey snapped, falling down.

"Vee…" Lilly blushed in embarrassment and hopped off Hailey's chest.

Hope stifled a laughing fit only because it was her birthday and helped Hailey up. "Thanks." She mumbled, brushing soil off her torn and tattered dress.

Hope smiled. "No problem. And yes, you can tag along." Hailey's eyes shined at Hope's response, eagerly following Hope to the gym.

XXX

The blue-haired stern gym leader eyed Hailey with interest as Hope told her about Hailey's former life. She slowly nodded. "I see…" Clair said steadily, not taking her cold judgmental eyes off Hailey for even a single second.

"Now, Hailey, it's your birthday, right?" She asked.

Hailey nodded, feeling unsettled by the gym leader's presence.

"Well how about I give you a birthday present?" Clair asked.

Hailey looked uncomfortably at Lilly, looking to her for a response. Lilly just shrugged, unable to come up with a better response.

"S-sure… I've never gotten a birthday present before…" She said truthfully.

Well that was untrue, as her parents had given her a new brown dress to replace her old ageing one. If that counts.

Clair grinned in response, releasing a blue serpent-like Pokémon. She climbed onto its back and ordered for it to fly her across her gym's challenge to her room.

"Air!" It cried obediently, swiftly flying Clair over the lava.

In seconds, Claire and her Pokémon returned to a semi nervous Hailey. Clair dismounted her dragon and leaned down to Hailey, offering a poke ball to her. "Here, I was originally just going to give it to Lance, but you can have it instead." She shrugged, trying to act as though what she just did wasn't kind.

Hailey hesitantly released the trapped Pokémon. "Whoa…" Hailey's jaw nearly dropped in awe at the Pokémon: it looked like a miniature version of Clair's Pokémon, it was blue and had a white underside, white wings on the sides of its head, and had a tiny horn in the center of its head.

"Tini?" It yawned, looking drowsily at Hailey.

"W-what is it?" Hailey stammered, unable to rip her gaze from the Pokémon.

"It's a Dratini." Clair answered simply, turning back to Hope.

Hailey tuned out the adult's conversation and focused entirely on Dratini.

"Hm… what should I name you, Dratini?" She pondered.

"Well, first I guess I should find out about, you know..." Hailey said, her face heating up. "Are you a girl…?" She asked gingerly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lilly face-palm, well _paw_.

Looking offended, Dratini shook his head no and glared at her.

"Sorry, sorry! I just don't know anything about Jo-to Pokémon!" She spluttered.

Dratini scoffed at her, not making eye contact.

"I'll call you… Blue!" Hailey said, hoping that her new Dratini would take to the name.

Blue opened one eye almost as though to say, 'I'm listening…'

Hailey brightened at Blue's response, turning and smiling at Lilly. "Well, looks like we have three Pokémon now-" Hailey's eyes widened.

"HERDIER!" She cried, realizing that she'd forgotten to get him help. She pulled the poke ball out of her backpack and releasing the hungry, dirty Pokémon.

"Der." Herdier barked, immediately sniffing around for food.

Hailey shyly looked up at Clair. "Um, excuse me, Ms. Clair? Do you have any food for my Herdier?"

Clair stopped speaking to Hope and looked down at Herdier, her eyes quickly narrowing. "What happened to that Pokémon?"

Hope spared Hailey from answering the dragon tamer. "It used to belong to Nacrene City's gym leader, Lenora, but she and the rest of her Pokémon were killed. Herdier somehow managed to stay alive and was guarding Lenora's remains for Arceus knows how long." Hailey blinked in gratitude at the green haired girl.

"Just take him to the Pokecenter. It's the orange building not too far from here." Clair directed, turning her attention back to Hope.

Hailey nodded, gesturing for Blue, Lilly, and Herdier to follow her.

XXX

Herdier continued to scarf down his food while Hailey combed through his knotted fur.

"And after you're done eating, I'll give you a bath." She said, forcing her way through the last knot. Hailey then looked around at her other two Pokémon, observing their eating habits.

Lilly was daintily eating her food, her old life shining through her actions.

Blue on the other hand, practically just did a face plant into his bowl.

Herdier's true eating habits were yet to be seen due to his starvation.

"Alright, guys. Stay here while I go get a sandwich." Hailey said, going back to the front desk to ask if they were still serving lunch.

The pink haired nurse happily gave her a pecha berry sandwich and a little sprite and a bag of potato chips. "Wait, before you go where did you get your Pokémon? All of them aren't exactly run of the mill Pokémon around here." The nurse asked suddenly.

Hailey swallowed a small portion of her sandwich before replying.

"I found my Eevee in the middle of a forest, my Herdier in… rubble…, and my Dratini was a gift from Lady Clair." She said, eagerly biting into her sandwich again.

Nurse Joy's eyes widened. "Clair? As in the gym leader, Clair?"

Hailey nodded.

"She must really like you then. Clair's never really liked children much… I wonder what she sees differently in you. She may see you as her potential..." Nurse Joy stopped herself. "oh never mind."

Hailey shrugged what she said off. "Oh, and can I still use the bathtubs for my Pokémon?"

"Of course!" Nurse Joy smiled warmly.

"Ok, thanks." Hailey said, returning to her three Pokémon who were just finishing their food.

Herdier was already looking more filled out, but it would still take a little while before he was a healthy weight.

Hailey finished her small sandwich quickly, putting her sprite and chips under one arm and using the other to pick up the empty Pokémon food bowls.

"Alright, guys. Follow me." Hailey said, struggling to hold everything.

"Hey, need some help?" A voice asked.

Hailey could barely see the person, but said yes anyway. "Yeah, thanks." She grunted, giving a sigh of relief as the bowls were taken from her arm.

Hailey finally looked at who helped her. She was a girl right around her age with violet eyes and violet hair that was put up in a shorter, rebellious, scruffy looking pony-tail. The girl wore a dark purple jacket and skirt with a pink shirt beneath the jacket.

"No problem." She smiled, easily carrying the bowls to the dirty dishes pile on top of one of the trash cans.

The violet-haired girl rose an eyebrow when she saw what Hailey was wearing. "Girl, what are you wearing?" She asked.

Hailey's face heated up in embarrassment when she realized that she was still wearing worn down brown flats, and a ripped and muddy brown dress.

"I…"

"Well whatever you're wearing won't work 'round here. The icy path makes it really, really cold up here. The mountains don't help neither. Here, there's this girl that's visiting here while her boyfriend challenges Clair and she's really into hair and fashion and stuff. I'm sure she'd be glad to help ya out."

"Wait! I don't even know your name."

"Oh! My mistake… I'm Lara! Pleased to meet ya."

"I'm… Hailey."

"Hiya, Hailey! I'm from Mahogany Town, it's really not too far from here. You should really meet Hisser!" Lara blurted, releasing a purple snake that instantly coiled around Lara's feet.

Hailey looked oddly at the Pokémon. She'd never seen one before.

"What's that?" She asked.

"Who, Hisser? Hisser's an Ekans! And dontcha go 'round think'n that I'm some kinda poison type lover, because despite my hair, eyes and Hisser of course, I don't favor just one type." Lara snorted, patting Hisser roughly on his head, making him rattle his tail.

"Ekans…" It hissed in warning.

Lara just laughed. "That's why I call him Hisser!" Hailey sweat dropped and looked back to her three Pokémon who all stared uncomfortably at Lara and Hisser.

"Ok, Lara… but before I go meet your erm… friend I need to fix my Pokémon up. Well Herdier at least…" She mumbled as she turned to head into the wash room, signaling for her Pokémon to follow her to the room.

"Oh! That's what I was doin' here! I was giving my Furret a bath!" Lara giggled, following Hailey into the wash room.

Hailey sighed and held the door for the very talkative girl and her Ekans.

"Thanks!" She grinned. "Oh yay! There's no one else in here so there's no waiting lines for the bath tubs." Lara cried, eagerly filling up four bathtubs.

"May as well kill four pidgeys with four tubs and bathe all my pokemon!"

"That doesn't make any sense." Hailey said as she filled up three bath tubs.

Hailey picked Lilly up and set her beside one of the raised bathtubs, gently sliding the gold locket necklace off her neck so nothing bad would happen to it while she got washed.

"Don't worry, Lilly, I'll keep this safe." She assured, putting the locket around her own neck before setting the fluffy Pokémon in the tub.

"Alright, next up is you, Blue." Hailey said, waiting for him to fly up to the tub, barely fitting in one of the raised ones.

"And finally, Herdier, you need one of the big tubs." She said, gesturing to the one large filled bathtub. Herdier nodded in response, climbing obediently into the tub.

Hailey couldn't help herself from looking back at Lara's tubs. She was bathing a long bodied, slick yet fluffy rodent, Hisser, and a small, dinosaur-like creature with a horn oozing poison. The last tub had a goldfish-like pokemon swimming around in it.

"You have some neat Pokémon." Hailey politely observed, watching as the dinosaur pokemon frantically kicked and fought with Lara in a futile attempt to get out of the bathtub.

"Y-you too! And cut it out, Nidorina!" Lara spluttered, her eyes tightly shut as she continued to wrestle her Pokémon back into the tub.

Hailey giggled silently to herself as she began to gently scrub at Herdier's fur, carefully running her fingers through the wiry fur.

"Now… I've been thinking about this for a while and I think I've thought of a good name for you. Do you like Hart?" She asked. Herdier barked his approval, shaking water all over Hailey. Hailey smiled. "I'm glad you like it, buddy."

XXX

Hailey yawned as she walked over to the gym, propping herself against the side of the building just beneath a window; with Lilly happily settling down on her lap, as Hailey didn't have her poke ball. Hailey shivered as the cold night wind blew through her tattered dress.

Lara said that she'd have the traveling fashionista fix her up with new clothes tomorrow, so at least she'd blend into the town after tonight.

Another gale of icy wind sucked more of Hailey's body heat away, her teeth beginning to chatter. _Well Lara wasn't lying about the cold… _Hailey though miserably, putting her cold hands in Lilly's neck fur to keep from getting frost bite.

"N-night Lilly…" She mumbled, closing her eyes.

"Vee…" Lilly replied sleepily, her plush fur keeping the cold at bay.

Hope had left around five thirty with Tropuis to return to Unova, so she couldn't spare her a blanket or anything. Slowly, Hailey fell asleep, her breathing steady and her breaths visible in the night air.

A pair of blue eyes watched the girl and Eevee sleep.

"Stay strong… she'll be fine." Clair convinced herself, forcing herself away from the window.

XXX

"AAAACHOO!" Hailey sneezed, waking herself up.

Her back was once again stiff from a bad night's sleep.

"Eeeeve…" Lilly whined, swiping her tail across her eyes in an attempt to block out the sunlight.

"Meh, wake up Lilly." Hailey grumbled, stretching her arms out and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Lilly gave a grunt in response and hesitantly got out of Hailey's lap.

Hailey staggered to her feet, stiffly walking to the Pokecenter so the four of them could get breakfast.

XXX

"L-Lara, are you s-sure we're allowed to be in here?" Hailey asked as she hesitantly sat down on the spectators' bench in Clair's gym.

Lara waved off Hailey's doubts.

"Oh relax! And if she gave you a Dratini than that must mean that she likes you! Besides, you haven't LIVED until you've seen a gym battle!" Lara squealed, her eyes gleaming in excitement.

"Wait! OHMYGOSH I never took you to see the fashionista!" Lara realized, gripping Hailey's wrist again.

"Oh no, no, no. Honest I can wait a few hours… I've lived in these rags ever since I can remember so I think I can last a few more hours in them." Hailey assured, prying Lara's hands off her wrist.

"Alright… if you're sure…"

"I'm sure."

"Alright, but-"

"What on earth are you doing here?" Clair boomed, interrupting the duo's conversation.

Hailey froze, but didn't shrink down into her seat quite like Lara did.

"L-Lady C-C-Clair?" She stuttered, fighting to gain control over her speech.

"We… we just wanted to w-watch a g-gym battle, h-honest!" Hailey cried, beginning to shake under Clair's gaze.

Clair bit her lip, her gaze beginning to waver. "Fine! Watch this one gym battle, then get out."

"Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am." Lara replied, perking up again.

"My challenger told me that the battle between us will start anytime now." Clair grumbled, stiffly walking to the referee's chair and taking a seat.

Hailey nodded wordlessly, not daring to speak. Lara was a little too nervous to speak either.

Talking right now would be like making a paper airplane in class or speaking while Ms. Reggie was speaking back in Unova. It just wasn't a good idea.

XXX

Hailey and Lara's eyes brightened in interest as two people entered the gym: a girl around the age of fifteen with pink hair tied in a perfect huge girly bow on the back of her head, the rest hung loosely. She wore a cream colored dress with pink cuffs and another pink bow was tied around the right side of the waist area. Her shoes were also pink with little cream colored bows acting as laces. A pink sheep-like Pokémon walked happily by her side.

The second, a boy also around the age of fifteen, had messier tan hair that hung in spiky clumps in his face, the rest was calm and smooth as though he wanted his hair to look wild in the front. He wore a navy blue V-neck with a white shirt underneath and long gray pants with muddy sneakers that must've been either blue or red at some point. A large black dog-like creature with amber eyes and blue circular ring-like markings were on its forehead, around its ears, and on his shoulders and hind legs.

The boy seemed familiar…

"What are those two Pokémon?" Hailey asked quietly so no one but Lara and Lilly would hear.

Lilly seemed excited by the dog-like Pokémon, wagging her tail and her paws moving as though a bunch of Durant were crawling around her legs.

Lara stared in awe before answering. "They both have shinies!" She squealed, clapping her hands to herself before answering Hailey's question.

"The girl who is also the fashionista who's going to fix you up in a little while has a shiny Mareep! And the other guy's her boyfriend, and his Pokémon's a shiny Umbreon!"

"Whoa… And wait, THAT lollie-pop of girl is picking my clothes?" Hailey gulped, shuddering at the thought of wearing her style of clothing.

"Clair, I'm here for my battle." The boy said determinedly, his Umbreon barking his adrenaline, the blue rings beginning to flash bright blue lights.

Clair nodded, getting to her feet and calling for the ref to come out. The ref quickly came out, knowing that Clair isn't one for waiting.

The pink haired girl sat down not too far from Hailey and Lara, her Mareep sitting on her lap.

Clair and the boy took their places on the battle field.

"This will be a battle between Leader Clair, and Challenger Eric."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Goodbye

**This one's going to be very short, because this is just a little bridge into the next chapter so yeah.**

"No… that's not possible." Hailey breathed, her eyes wide and staring.

Lara looked at Hailey in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Eric's my brother!" Hailey hissed, unable to believe that she'd already found her brother.

"Really? Cool!" Lara said, not finding anything wrong with what she said.

"Let the battle begin!" The ref roared, swiping the flag over the battle field.

"Dragonair, go!"

"Alright, Beedrill it's battle time!"

XXX

Hailey had been too stunned to enjoy the battle, unlike Lara and the pink haired girl, who didn't seem fazed by the fact that the challenger was her brother.

It had been a three-on-three battle. Clair had used two Dragonair and one Kingdra and Eric had used a Beedrill, Umbreon, and Typhlosion.

Eric had won, but barely with his Typhlosion barely beating Dragonair. After Clair grudgingly forked over the Rising Badge, Hailey and Lilly left Lara in the stands and raced to Eric who was currently being congratulated by the other girl.

"E-Eric?" She breathed, her voice wavering. Eric rose an eyebrow. "And you are?"

"Hailey! It's me, Hailey! I got away!"

Eric's eyes widened. "Hailey?" He smiled, picking her up and hugging her.

"So this is your younger sister?" The girl asked, smiling at their reunion.

Eric nodded, setting Hailey down. "Julie, this is Hailey; Hailey, this is Julie, my girlfriend." He said, gesturing to the girl.

Julie shook her hand, looking her over. "What are you wearing?" She gasped, her eyes wide in shock.

Hailey blushed in embarrassment. "I… erm never got to get new clothes… my escort out of Unova just brought me here and then… you know… left." She mumbled shyly, looking at the ground.

Julie looked to Eric. "Do you mind if I steal her for just a second?" She asked.

Eric nodded. "Sure, why not." "Cool! Time to get you out of those rags!" Julie said enthusiastically, taking Hailey to the clothing store.

XXX

Hailey felt like a new person. To her surprise, Julie didn't think that a dress would suit her. She had helped Hailey pick out long brown pants, a light blue and gray sweatshirt, a darker gray poke ball belt, and a light gray and blue purse-like bag, and brand new blue and gray sneakers.

"Thanks for your help, Julie." Hailey smiled, preparing to leave the dressing rooms.

"Wait! Your hair isn't done." Julie protested, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Hailey stopped and looked back at Julie. "Hm? What do you mean? My hair's fine down, isn't it?"

"Oh come on, Hailey! You have nice hair! And lots of it too. We don't have to do a bow like mine… but we should do something with it at least." Julie frowned.

Hailey sighed. "Ok."

Julie instantly brightened.

Hailey waited patiently as Julie began to try different hair styles on her, some strange, others even stranger. None were very… simplistic.

"Here, let me try." Hailey said, beginning to play around with her hair.

XXX

She'd found it. Hailey got her hair right when she messed up doing some other hair style; now it hung in two loose circular hoops, held in place by circular black stone pins. "Got it!" Hailey cheered, satisfied with her work. Julie nodded her approval as the two left the store and headed to the Pokecenter to meet up with Eric.

XXX

_The king nodded. "I see… so they're scattered all across Johto?" _

_ The guard nodded in conformation. "Yes, my Lord."_

_ "Well, we need to get them back to Crown city. I went on a journey when I was younger, so now it's Storm's turn. I now plan to send him to Johto when he reaches the age of sixteen." He said suddenly, looking at his reflection in the marble floor. _

_The guard's eyes widened. "But sir-" _

_"Storm shall earn his place on the throne by slowly rounding up each escaped citizen… our job here is to tighten security, make sure no one's sleeping on the job and to keep a tighter collar on the town." He ordered, sending the lone guard away._

XXX

"Well, Hailey, it's reassuring to know you're safe now, but Julie and I really must be going-"

"Wh-what? Eric, I thought that I was coming too." Hailey said, her voice shaky.

"Look, Hailey, I really care about you, but when I first came here, I was all alone and didn't even have ONE Pokémon with me," Eric began.

"I didn't even know Julie until I eventually found my way to the Elm laboratory, where I met my Typhlosion. You already have a friend and THREE Pokémon with you. Besides, struggling like that has made me a stronger person. And Julie and I are heading over to the Kanto region now. I don't think I'm cut out for the Pokémon league, so I'm going to collect all the Kanto badges, then maybe I'll have a shot at beating the Elite Four and maybe even Lance himself." Eric explained, looking pained to tell his sister not to come with him.

Hailey fought back tears, something she'd become rather skilled at thanks to Ms. Reggie and the guards back in Unova.

"O-Ok." She said, knowing better than to argue.

Lilly stared up at her trainer sympathetically, wrapping her plush tail around Hailey's right leg.

Hailey ignored Lilly, turning around and beginning to walk away from her brother all in one swift movement. Her gaze floated back over her shoulder to see Julie talking to Eric with a saddened expression, as though she thought what Eric was saying to Hailey was wrong. Hailey kept walking.

**Hey will you guys lend me a hand? I'm trying to decide if Lilly should be a Vaporeon, Leafeon, Glaceon, or Espeon. TELL ME! Anyhow, we're skipping like seven years into the future… That's when it truly begins.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Apprentice

**I've decided that I'm going to do a few more fillers so Hailey can get more of a Pokémon team and stuff before I do the time skip. So…. yeah.**

_"I swear to Arceus, if you don't let go of me-" The silver eyed boy was silenced by fingers as they swiftly preformed the Vulcan nerve pinch, knocking him out before he could finish his threat. _

_The guards sighed._

_ "These rebels are getting stranger and stranger with each one we get." One muttered, dragging the now limp man by the shoulders._

_ "I know, right? Our next target will be that wacko with the Larvesta… I hear he's in Victory Road." The other remarked, picking up the prisoner's legs so he could be safely transported down the stairs._

_ "And after he's caught, we'll go for the one in Champion's Forest. She's been seen only with a Liepard so it shouldn't be too difficult to catch her." The other guard nodded in agreement. _

_"Soon Unova will be a rebel-free region."_

XXX

Hailey woke up the next morning, her back to the side of the gym and Lilly was curled up against her stomach, still sleeping soundly.

Eric had left yesterday with Julie to Goldenrod City so he could get on the light rail train and go to the Kanto region.

Hailey looked softly at the sleeping Pokémon, watching her chest rise… then fall… with an occasional snore and ear twitch. She gave a faint smile, quickly regaining a straight face. The smile then fought its way back onto her face.

It had become natural for Hailey not to express her emotion, as emotions would often do nothing but get her very unwanted attention by Team Plasma. Especially grief and sadness. You were not to cry or look depressed if one died, you were not to take time off work for your loss, you were not to hold much of a funeral for the deceased; you just tossed them in a hole and were done with it. Hailey agreed that it was easier than wasting all you energy grieving, but it was a little extreme and disrespectful in her opinion.

When her brother ran away and left the rest of Hailey's family behind, her parents nor did Hailey sulk or cry about it, they just carried on with life and forgot Eric. Hailey knew that even if she'd never seen Lilly again back in Unova, she would've never cried or mourn the absence of her; she would've just forgotten her and continued on with her life.

Just as the sages had told her to do.

XXX

"Urm, Lara I-I-I really don't know h-how to do this!" Hailey stuttered, staring blankly at the dirt field with the large poke ball sketched out in the center.

Lara waved her doubt off. "Aw come on, Hailey! It comes naturally to everyone! The Pokémon know how to do it, I know how to do it, so you must know how to do it! You've just never tried it yet!" Lara said, releasing Hisser from his poke ball.

Hisser's tail began rattling, his tongue flicking in and out of his fanged jaws as he saw the battle field.

"Now, release your Dratini!" Lara cried.

Gritting her teeth, Hailey shakily reached for her new poke ball belt, looking through the see-though red part of the poke ball at her Dratini as she plucked it off her belt. Hailey stared blankly at the dragon type through the ball.

"Now, push the button!" Lara yelled, startling Hailey back to reality.

"Oh! Right! Urm… Come on out, Blue." Hailey said, pushing the white center of the ball, squinting as the blinding white flash morphed into her Dratini.

"Tini!" Blue cried, instantly recognizing the battle field.

Lara formed her hand into a determined fist. "See? Dratini knows what to do! He was Clair's Pokémon for Arceus's sake!"

Hailey gulped. "B-but I don't know any of his attacks!"

"I bet he knows dragon rage at least. Just tell him to use dragon rage, you'll learn more about his attacks as you battle." Lara shrugged, nodding at Hisser to go onto the arena.

Hailey nodded stiffly, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. "O-ok… Blue, use dragon rage."

"Tini!" Blue cried, unleashing a quick burst of dragon-type energy.

"Hisser, dodge it!" Lara yelled, watching in satisfaction as the Ekans simply ducked to evade the attack.

"Now, poison sting!"

"Uh, urm… dodge it!" Hailey said, scared that she had directed Blue too late.

Blue then dodged with incredible speed, becoming invisible to the eye as he darted to the left. Lara's eyes widened. "Dratini knows extreme speed?! H-how'd you teach him that?"

"I didn't." Hailey said blankly, dumbfounded.

"Drat!" Blue cried, smirking at its trainer.

Hailey flinched.

Lara just laughed. "Looks like Dratini has a bit of attitude, huh?"

Hailey nodded slowly. "Yeah... a little bit…"

"Anyhow, Hisser, poison tail!"

"Dodge with extreme speed!" Hailey blurted, struggling to think under pressure.

Blue wordlessly dodged the attack, appearing above the Ekans. Without a command, Blue fired a powerful dragon rage, hitting Hisser square in the head.

"Ek…" Hisser moaned, laying fainted on the field.

Hailey's eyes darted from side to side nervously, as though expecting Plasma guards to kill Lara and her both on the spot.

"Why would you look at that? You won!" Lara hollered, snapping Hailey out of her daymare.

Blue slithered proudly back to Hailey, a smug look on his face as he awaited praise.

Hailey stiffly patted Blue's winged head, murmuring small but meaningful praises to him. Lara's head tilted to the side.

"Why the long face?" Lara asked, her face twisted in confusion.

Hailey looked almost dully at Lara. "… Nothing. Just… just nothing."

"Ok… if you're sure. Wanna have another battle? I bet your Herdier would put up a great fight-"

"Nurse Joy told me not to use Hart in battle until he puts on weight." Hailey interrupted.

"Ok, then how 'bout your Eevee? She's got meat on her bones." Lara suggested, looking at the Eevee that sat beside Hailey.

Hailey bit her lip. "I'm not sure if she really likes to battle, I mean, she came from a rather… cushioned… life-style so I don't know-" Lilly cut her trainer off mid-sentence, leaping eagerly onto the battle field.

"See? She'll battle just fine." Lara grinned, rummaging through her bag in search of another poke ball.

Hailey walked onto the battle field, kneeling down to Lilly's level and taking the necklace from her neck. "Don't need this breaking, now do we?" She smiled faintly, putting the gold chain around her own neck to keep it safe.

"Ah ha! Now the party can start." Lara said confidently, releasing her Nidorina.

"Rina…" The poison type crooned, glaring at Lilly.

"Aw come on, Barb, don't be a sour puss! Be a good sport for once in your life!" Lara pleaded, sinking into her knees before turning her attention to Hailey.

"Do you need to know any moves that Lilly knows?"

Hailey shook her head. "No, I already know some of her attacks."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure." Hailey insisted, a small flicker of confidence flashing in her eyes.

"Cool beans! But since you attacked first last battle, I get the right of way," Lara winked, strands of purple hair floating in her face.

"Barb, horn attack let's go!"

Hailey stiffened. "Urk, um, dodge!" The brunet said clumsily.

Lilly leapt above the Nidorina, coating her tail in iron in mid-air, slamming the iron tail onto Barb's head, missing the poisonous barb by just a hair.

The Nidorina got a face-full of dirt before getting up due to its higher defense.

Lilly stuck the landing, looking back to Hailey. Hailey nodded, aware of the fact that Lilly was teaching her the battling basics.

"Cool! Eevee knows iron tail?"

Hailey nodded, recalling the time when Lilly had used it as a guard when she had tried to take her locket for the first time.

Instead of battling, Lara continued to gawk over Lilly. "A-and it's movements where so swift and flowing and elegant! It was like watching a battle out of a Pokémon Contest! If her fur was combed and freshly washed than I would've forgotten that I WASN'T watching a contest!" Lara squealed, clasping her hands together in admiration.

"What's a-" Hailey snapped her mouth shut, deciding to wait to ask until after the battle. "Back to the battle… Lilly, I-iron tail again."

Lara quickly came back to reality. "Barb, dig attack!"

"Nidor!" Barb cried sharply, burrowing into the ground in seconds.

Lilly instinctively began looked at the ground, closing her eyes and honing into the movements underground; it seemed like a second nature to her.

Her tail remained silver and tough while she waited for the Nidorina to resurface.

"Now!" Lara yelled. Barb shot out of the ground like a bullet, but Lilly was ready, leaping backwards without a command, hitting the bad-tempered Nidorina right in the jaw.

Barb screeched in pain, recoiling from being hit in the sensitive area before stuttering to the ground as it tried to regain its senses.

Something flashed in Lara's eyes before she gave the next command. "Double kick!"

Lilly's eyes widened with anxiety as Barb got to her feet, leaping wildly at her, kicking the normal type several times until spirals swirled in her eyes.

"L-Lilly!" Hailey gasped, running onto the field and picking the defeated Eevee up.

"A-are you alright?" She asked, horrified that her Eevee had done so well, yet somehow failed. Lilly blinked the spirals out of her eyes, shaking her fur out in Hailey's arms.

"Vee…" She squeaked, faintly smiling at Hailey.

XXX

_Storm's eyes where wide in surprise when he heard of Hailey's escape. "W-what do you mean, she got away? W-why wasn't she put in the prison right away?" He asked, exchanging confused looks with Zorua._

_ "She was only nine, Storm. Only a cruel person would put a nine-year old in prison." The King said sternly, his Zoroark growling in agreement._

_ "Where did she go?" Storm asked promptly, half wishing that Hailey was still in Crown City._

_ If the Eevee would've just gone with Storm like he wanted, he and Hailey could've been great friends, best ones at that. _

_"One of the captured rebels told us that she was placed in Johto." _

XXX

"Y-you sure she's gonna be alright?" Hailey asked shakily, her eyes still huge with worry.

Lara groaned. "For the last time, yes, Hailey! Lilly's fine! Barb didn't do any real damage to her, honest! Just like Dratini didn't do any real damage to Hisser."

The pair sat quietly for a good five minutes.

Finally, Lara spoke again. "You… you ain't from here, are you." She said.

Hailey paused before answering. "…No…"

"Where do you come from then?"

"Not here."

"Yeah, I'm well aware of that, but what region?"

Hailey gulped. "…Un… Unova. I'm from Unova. That's how I got my Herdier."

Lara's overall seriousness instantly vanished. "Seriously?! Ohmygosh what's it like? Ever since Unova broke away from the league no one's had any contact with them! Is it awesome? Do you guys like have your own swimming pools in your backyards? Do you have butlers waiting on you all the time?" Lara asked, her voice quivering in excitement.

Hailey rose an eyebrow. "You did see what I was wearing when I first came here, right?" She asked dryly, her legs instinctively crossing and her back beginning to straighten as she regained her sanity, her hands folded neatly on her lap.

Hailey observed Lara's position: her legs were spread far apart, her back was leant lazily against the waiting room's chair's back, her hands hanging loosely at her sides. Her gaze flickered to everyone else in the waiting room. No one looked like her. Feeling alienated, she reluctantly unfolded her hands and let her back slack a little, but her legs stayed crossed.

"Alright, I guess I over exaggerated when I said you had butlers waiting on you and stuff… but seriously, what's it like over there?" Lara asked, her eyes hungry for stories about Hailey's old life.

"Well, all women and young girls are required by law to wear brown leather dresses and brown ballet slippers, and the men and young boys, they can wear whatever they want. As long as they have a shirt and pants and sneakers on at all times. Oh, and you weren't allowed in Champion's Forest, Victory Road, or the ocean. Unless you were a lumber jack and had papers to leave the town you couldn't leave. There were a TON of guards everywhere you went, and if you ever misbehaved in school-"

"What? You actually went to school? Unova's getting weird…" Lara interrupted, biting her tongue when she realized that Hailey was still speaking. "Continue."

Hailey nodded and went back to speaking of her birth region. "Back to the school topic, you would get sent 'out back' if you spoke when you weren't allowed to speak, passed notes, launched spitballs and paper airplanes, slouched, didn't have your hands neatly folded on your desk, or if you legs weren't crossed. I have a lot of scars from being sent 'out back'. Not all for having bad posture and stuff, but for not putting all my personal information on my essays or worksheets. I'd always forget my address or how to spell my street's name. The silly stuff that Sage Ghetsis makes you pay for." Hailey explained, studying the perplexed look on Lara's face as she took in her words, drinking them in slowly.

"Crown City? I've never heard of a Crown City in Unova. Do you live in Castelia City, or Nacrene City, or maybe Oppelcuid City?" Lara asked.

Hailey took a minute to process the town names. "There's only one city, and that's Crown City. The rest got bombed and destroyed." She said quietly as she looked at the ground, not wanting to see Lara's facial expression.

"B-bombed?" She squeaked, falling silent.

Hailey nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on the tiled floor. "I wasn't around when it happened. Why, I didn't even know it happened until Hope showed me Nacrene City, where I found Hart. I also found Lenora's skeleton." She said quietly, praying that the Nurse would call one of them up so she wouldn't have to talk about Unova anymore.

Her prayers are answered, just not by Nurse Joy. Clair walks through the door, her black cape windswept and her boots wet and gritty.

"Whoa Clair, what happened to you?" Lara asked, her eyes now wide with curiosity. Clair ignored Lara's comment and turned to Hailey.

"Hailey, are your Pokémon ready yet? I have something I need to ask you." She said briskly, dusting droplets of water from her arms.

"No, ma'am. They're not ready yet, and why are you all wet? It's not raining, is it?" Hailey asked.

"I was in the Dragon's Den behind the gym." She answered coolly, not wanting to raise any alarm. Lara and Hailey were satisfied with that answer.

BRING! BRING, BRING! "Oops!" Lara blushed, tapping her X-Transceiver and leaving the center to answer her transceiver.

Hailey now sat in an awkward silence with the Dragon Master.

"Hailey! Your Pokémon are ready!" A nurse called from the desk.

Hailey's eyes lit up in relief, striding to the front desk. A Chansey brought out a metal tray with two pokeballs and Lilly sitting atop it.

"Thank you." Hailey said politely, putting the two pokeballs on her belt with little difficulty and lifting the Eevee off the tray.

"How you feeling?" Hailey asked, holding the normal type beneath her armpits.

Lilly nodded, her eyes clear and bright.

"Great, now that you've got them back, come with me." Clair commanded.

Hailey nodded in response, setting Lilly on the ground, not yet comfortable or strong enough to let her perch on her frail shoulders.

XXX

Hailey had never been this deep into the gym. There were rock platforms with a sea of bubbling, smoldering, crimson lava beneath them. What must've been Clair's gym trainers stood practicing for any of Clair's future challengers, as they were the test to see if they were worthy opponents of Clair. Most had the long, snake-like blue Dragonair battling each other, evading each other's attacks.

Hailey looked to Clair. "Why'd you bring me in here?" She asked, looking questioningly at the gym leader.

"I brought you here so I could make a proposition, an offer for you," Clair said, inhaling deeply.

"I didn't give you that Dratini out of the kindness of my heart, you know. I gave you Dratini because I saw something that I don't often see in other children your age. Most pursue power, much like myself; but you however, don't seem to be in pursuit of defeating Champion Lance and governing Johto and Kanto. You're not the type to go out in search of every species of Pokémon so you can complete a pokedex and win a professor's favor. All of my other gym trainers want this sort of thing. And right now I'm working on making my trainers more diverse; more likely to puzzle and dumbfound my challengers. I watched your battle with Lara, Hailey. I was right on with my haunch, you're what I want in my gym." Clair explained, taking in another deep breath.

Hailey's eyes went round in awe that she, a foreigner of both Johto and Pokémon training, would catch the interest of someone like Clair.

"So I gave you Dratini in hopes that you would qualify for my gym. And you've passed my test. Hailey, would you train with me and my other trainers here, in my gym?" Clair finally asked, her gaze bold and serious.

Hailey and Lilly exchanged glances. The air grew quiet aside from the bursting of lava bubbles below and the cries of dragon types on the platforms. Hailey slowly nodded. "Ok."

Clair's eyes lit up in satisfaction. "Excellent, training will begin right away. Head down to platform B, section C. Brendan will begin to strengthen your Dratini."

"But what about Lilly and Hart?"

"They aren't dragon types, and not even your Herdier can learn a dragon type move. Your Eevee can't evolve into a dragon type either, so Dratini's going to be the only useful Pokémon in my gym. However, once Dratini reaches the appropriate level, your other Pokémon can join in." Clair explained, pointing towards Section C.

Hailey nodded obediently, gesturing for Lilly to follow her deeper into the gym.

**Ok, basically Lilly's evolution has been determined so you can stop voting. Unless there's an enormous spike in votes for another evolution, Lilly's evolving into the one that got the most votes over the past week. Thanks for voting!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Scream

**One month later…**

Blue had quickly climbed through the levels, much like Brendan had expected; this allowed Lilly to join in (as Nurse Joy advised keeping Hart off the battle field another few days). Hailey even used them against challengers now.

Clair allowed their usage due to the way Brendan had Hailey train them. Although they couldn't learn dragon type attacks, it didn't mean that they couldn't MOVE like dragon types. Hart joined in the exercises when it didn't involve battling, which wasn't often.

Clair's haunch had been right about Hailey, unlike her other trainers, she didn't attack straight forward. She used speed and agility to bewilder her opponents, tiring out their Pokémon just before they would challenge Clair, making it so very few got the Rising Badge from Clair, much to her delight.

Hailey was training with Brendan right now, battling his Dragonair with Blue, but, she wasn't focusing on the battle very much. Last week, Clair was scheduled to battle with Morty, Ecruteak City's gym leader, for practice and had invited Hailey and a few other beginner gym trainers so they could train with Morty's gym trainers for experience with Ghost types, which Hailey had no experience with. They would depart later today.

But it wouldn't end there. After hearing that Clair and Morty would be battling, Whitney, Goldenrod's gym leader, practically begged Clair and Morty to come to Goldenrod and battle her too, saying that her challengers these days bored her, not putting up much of a fight against Miltank. Then they would return to Blackthorn. So Hailey had been training more than usual.

"I have to say your Dratini's really improved, Hailey. He's much faster than even my Dragonair." Brendan complimented as Dragonair retired from the battle field, snaking around her trainer's body.

He scratched the side of her head affectionately before regaining focus. "He should be evolving soon. Before you received him, Clair had been training him so he's a higher level."

"Thank you, and I hope he does evolve soon, I really want to see a Pokémon evolve." Hailey said, her eyes wide as moons as her imagination dreamt up a Pokémon evolution process.

"You all packed yet?" He asked.

Ever since Hailey had joined the dragon type gym, Clair had provided her a room in the girls' dorm in the basement, where all the other girls who either didn't have homes or didn't want to stay with their parents anymore stayed down there. (There were more than you might've thought.)

Hailey nodded. "Of course I did! Last night I packed, just as I was told."

Brendan chuckled. "Looks like Unova's made you into a great rule-follower. Most kids your age would've forgotten to pack."

"All kids my age in Unova are like this."

"Well then Johto kids should really follow Unova's example."

"No, no they shouldn't." Hailey grumbled, finally fully aware of how wrong Unovian society was.

Brendan sighed. "Well, trainings over today, you can go hang out for the last hour before you leave."

Hailey nodded, returning Blue and inviting Lilly onto her shoulder. While at the gym, her Pokémon weren't the only ones to have to get tougher. Clair believed that conditioning her trainers also improved battling skill. (She had spent a week with Chuck at his gym and started to believe it herself.) So now Hailey was strong enough to keep her balance and stand tall even with Lilly on her shoulder. She knew now that leaving Unova was the best choice she'd ever made

XXX

"You're so lucky," Lara grumbled jealously, her arms folded as she walked Hailey to the Blackthorn airport.

"My mother would never let me leave town without her. Why, if it were up to me I'd be journeying across Johto, then Kanto, then Hoenn, then Sinnoh. It'd be epic!"

"I can relate to that." Hailey said quietly, shivering at the memory of the guard catching her in the forest back in Unova when she chased after Lilly.

"Oh… sorry." Lara mumbled, feeling guilty for bringing up her friend's unpleasant past.

Hailey forced herself to shrug it off. "It's fine. I'm away from Unova now and the sages can't hurt me anymore." She said, giving her friend one last smile before disappearing into the airport.

XXX

_The foursome exchanged knowing glances as they watched the young brunet smile goodbye to her violet-haired friend before entering the airport. _

_ "Fresh meat." One grinned, his eyes watching where she once was with preying eyes._

_ Another one, a blond girl, nodded in agreement. "She's so naïve too… how should we trick her? I want to have fun with it though, so don't make it some telemarketer thing like last time." She said dryly, recalling the last time they'd tricked a young boy. _

_ He had dull red eyes and charcoal-colored black hair. Only he hadn't been naïve and innocent prey like their new target. She shivered as she remembered the electricity coursing through her veins, courtesy of his rotten Pokémon. _

_ One of the men licked his lips in impatience as he awaited the undercover man's response, holding the walkie-talkie close to his face. _

_ "Come on… come on…" He murmured. _

_ "Get a grip!" The girl hissed bad-temperedly, smacking him on the back of his head. _

_"God, what was that for?" He snapped, glaring at the blond. _

_ "You look like a baby trying to go in his diaper, stop it!" She glowered, her intimidating stare immediately ending his chants. _

_ BLEEP! The walkie-talkie beeped, a voice beginning to trickle from the device._

_ "Target B is heading to Ecruteak. Get going now and you'll beat her to the city." The undercover agent informed, his voice stopping so the blond girl wouldn't snap at him. _

_ She turned to her three companions. "I'll head over to Ecruteak City now, and you three… hmm… be my backup." She decided, pulling her jet-pack from the bramble bushes and sliding it on. _

_ "Don't disappoint me." She growled, taking off. _

XXX

Hailey and four other gym trainers trailed behind Clair, luggage in hand (and an Eevee on Hailey's shoulder).

The town of Ecruteak was old. Really old. Well, the houses and Pokémon center were updated, but the theater where the Komono girls danced, the Burnt Tower, and the Bell Tower- they looked like they would fall to pieces at any moment.

Hailey's eyes were round with wonder at seeing another town that wasn't Crown City or Blackthorn City. (Or the wrecked Nacrene City.) Lilly however, looked quite content, as though this town was familiar to her. Perhaps her old trainer vacationed in Johto often?

The group of five stopped at the gym doors.

"You four stay out here, sightsee for the day, ok? Morty and I have much to discuss before we battle. Tomorrow we will assess and compare your battling styles and techniques, so training wouldn't hurt for you to do. When you're ready to throw in the towel for the day then go into the Pokémon Center, I booked rooms for us, okay? Good." Clair said, stepping into the gym and leaving her trainers to fend for themselves.

Each one went to a different place: Nikki went to watch the Komono girls in the theater; Brick went to the Bell Tower to look for Ho-Oh; Kat went towards Olivine City to look at the Miltank dairy; and Hailey decided that the Burnt Tower would be interesting. She'd never seen something so old before, even though her home in Crown City had appeared to be old and unstable due to the materials used to construct it.

"Ready, Lilly?" She asked, grinning when she nodded excitedly.

"Oh, hang on. First let me drop my stuff off." Hailey laughed, realizing that she'd almost went into the tower with her suitcase in hand.

The two ran to the center and put it in the girls' room on a bed.

"Ok," She said as they exited the center.

"NOW we can go."

"Wait!" Hailey paused just outside the Pokémon Center.

An ebony haired girl a little older than Hailey with a nervous look in her eyes approached Hailey.

"H-hey… I um heard you were uh going to the um, you know, Burnt Tower?" She asked cautiously.

Lilly flattened her ears to her skull in aggression, growling at the girl, a glare dancing in her gaze.

"L-Lilly! What's going on with you?" Hailey asked, worried that she might lunge at the girl.

She swore that the girl gritted her teeth in frustration for a moment, but she couldn't quite tell. And if she did, than she could hide anger very well, much like how Hailey could mask sadness and the other emotions that had made it onto Sage Ghetisis' 'Weak' list.

"Who are you?" Hailey asked, her Eevee's anger suddenly making her suspicious of the newcomer.

"My name's Courtney. I'm doing research for Professor Oak." Courtney said with a warm smile on her face. Her suspicions vanishing at the note of a professor, Hailey shook hands with Courtney.

"My name's Hailey. I'm one of the Blackthorn City gym trainers." She said, wondering if her title would impress Courtney as much as her title impressed her.

Courtney smiled. "That's cool, but what are you doing outside Blackthorn?" She asked.

"I'm- Ow!" Hailey winced as Lilly slapped her in the face with her tail.

"Vee! Eve, Vee!" She cried, trying her best to direct Hailey away from Courtney.

"Look, Courtney, I have important business to take care of in the Tower-"

"No, no! Please, hear me out." She pleaded.

Hailey bit her lip before nodding. "Go on."

"Well, you see, there is a rumor going around that Raikou, Entei, and Suicune are inside that tower right now. I'm afraid that it may be a trick, and if they see me, a professor's assistant, go inside, they might hurt me. That's why I'm asking you to check it out for me." Courtney said, an almost false sweetness cloying her voice.

"Oh, yeah sure I will!"

Courtney brightened. "Excellent. They're supposed to be in the pit of the building, meet me at the Pokémon Center once you've found out, ok?" She asked.

Hailey nodded, "I won't let you down." She assured, trotting eagerly into the tower.

XXX

_Storm played quietly in his toy room, his Zorua sitting drowsily beside him, as he had just aroused from a nap only moments ago. He lazily watched the green haired boy stack small, colorful bricks atop each other to form towers, only to have him knock it down. _

_ Which was a little out of the ordinary for Storm, as he would often build cities of these colorful towers. He only knocked his creations over when he was thinking about something. _

_ "Shadow, Red, Black, Socks, Trick, Fox, Zorro," he murmured, taking what Hailey had said to him the last time he'd seen her into consideration. She was wrong about many things, but she was right about something. She was right about Zorua needing a name. _

_ "Prince? Moku?" Zorua's head jerked up at the last one. _

_Storm's eyes lit up. _

_ "Moku?" He asked again, with more enthusiasm in his voice. _

_ The black fox yipped happily in response, his tail thumping rapidly on the wood floor. _

_ "Then Moku it is." _

XXX

The Tower creaked with each step Hailey took, causing her to cringe in nervousness. The entire floor was basically charred and scarred from the fire that had ravaged it years before, making it unpredictable and dangerous.

"See the bottom yet?" Hailey asked, looking to her Eevee who was walking on a narrow rickety strip of wood that seemed to stretch all the way across the midsection of the tower. Lilly looked back at Hailey and shook her head no.

Hailey sighed in frustration. She'd been at this for nearly an hour, and since she'd been spending so much time with Clair, her usually patient self had grown rather impatient with things.

Lilly carefully treaded back across the unstable surface, immediately sniffing around for another entrance. Hailey looked around, barely making a sound as she walked across the floor. (Another trait that living in Unova had given her.)

"Should I ask Hart if he can sniff us out another entrance?" Hailey asked, looking to Lilly for an answer. Lilly was about to respond when she nearly fell through the floor.

"Whoa! You ok?" She asked frantically, barely catching Lilly by the scruff of her neck. Lifting Lilly away from the hole in the floor.

"Ok, let's not let Hart out. He'll surely fall through the floor." Hailey decided, hesitating before placing Lilly on the ground.

"We both need to start testing the ground in front of us before we step, ok?" Hailey said sternly, gingerly testing the ground with her foot.

XXX

_"Too easy!" The blond laughed, still marveling at the girl's stupidity at taking a request of an unlicensed lab assistant. _

_The man grinned, some of his teal hairs floating lazily in his face. "Excellent. Do you think she will comply with our demands once Operation Giovanni begins?" He asked. _

_ "Psh, of course she will! We probably won't even have the threaten the brat to give us the keys and answer our questions." She said with confidence._

_ "But her Eevee… that thing's too smart for its own good. It was bitching at me while I was tricking the girl. The rotten thing nearly cost us stage fourteen of the mission!" She spat, her eyes ablaze at the thought of failing a mission that would mean the difference between getting Giovanni back, or never seeing him again. _

_The man didn't look surprised. "Any Pokémon would've done that. They know who we are and try to warn others who are too ignorant to see us, but the people… they're much too stupid."_

_ "Yes, but this girl seemed to actually LISTEN to her Pokémon. Much like the crimson-eyed boy. He was good, like Giovanni good. He saw past my disguises and defeated both Lambda and myself, then he drove Giovanni off." She said bitterly. _

_ "Ah, but that kid's long gone now. He went back towards Kanto, most likely died while passing through Mt. Silver." He mused._

_ "Yep, and now with him gone, we can take over not just Kanto, but Johto as well. Psh, and Team Plasma thinks they're something special because they control ONE measly little region. After we take Johto and Kanto, we'll move to Hoenn then Sinnoh, then we'll steal Unova away from them in a heart-beat." She boasted, her excitement building at the thought of destroying the league system once and for all. _

_ "Indeed… we will purge the league system and Team Rocket-ify it. Perhaps making the pokeleague the Executive test, or a way to determine Giovanni's next pupil once he returns." He shrugged, signing some papers as he listened to the girl. _

_ "And what if this brat doesn't have what we want? What do we do then?" She asked bitterly. _

_ "Then we move on, we'll beat her and make her swear on her pathetic life that she won't tell a soul about our plans of greatness. If that doesn't work then we just kill her. No biggie." The man shrugged, going back to his paperwork. _

_The girl nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Should I greet her in the tower?" "Ah, no. You've done enough. Athena can handle the rest, trust me. You've earned your pay." _

XXX

"Aha! Here we are." Hailey beamed, climbing over a rather large heap of charred ash and wood, giving her full access to viewing the room.

Lilly quickly caught up with her trainer, standing beside her on the narrow ledge. The two peered down the pit of the tower. Something was definitely down there, she just couldn't make out the shapes. (Clair told her she needed glasses, but Hailey was becoming rather headstrong and denied it.)

"You see anything?" She asked. Lilly nodded, careful not to lean too far over the edge. The world spun around in Hailey's mind, she suddenly felt sick to her stomach at this height.

She regathered herself with a sigh. "Okay, let's just work our way down then." She decided.

"Vee?" Lilly asked, looking concerned for her trainer.

"I-I'm fine," she stammered. "I'm just not used to this height, that's all."

Lilly shrugged and followed Hailey as she inched her way across the thin strip of burnt wood. Lilly's ear twitched as she heard a faint bleep…bleep…bleep…bleep…

"Eve!" Lilly cried, causing Hailey's head to snap back towards her.

"What is it?" She asked. Lilly began growling at the way, chewing at the fragile wall, easily chipping it with her small but sharp teeth.

Now even Hailey could hear the bleep…bleep…bleep…bleep sound.

"W-what's that noise?" Hailey asked, hoping it was just a noise that Eevee made.

Lilly growled and tore a plank off the wall, revealing a complex system of wires. Hailey's eyes widened.

"Ok… I'm not used to old monuments like this, but I'm pretty sure they don't have working electricity. Not even my old house back in Unova had electricity. We used candles for our light and heat." She said as her fingers tentively glided over the slick black and red wiring.

She suppressed a gasp as a small volt of electricity shocked her system, nearly causing her to fall over the edge. Eyes wide and heart pounding, she regains control over herself.

"C-come on, Lilly. Let's just keep going. We have to help Courtney, I said I would so I'm keeping my word." Hailey said, ignoring Lilly's snarl at the mention of Courtney.

The board-walk went in a convenient spiral from top to the bottom, making it easier for Hailey and Lilly to make it to the pit. As she walked further down, Hailey noticed more of the wiring. But she'd convinced herself that it was to keep the tower stable somehow. After all, it was an important piece of history that the city most likely wished to preserve.

Hailey peered down into the pit once more, only to see that the figures that she'd observed from the top of the tower had vanished.

"Hey, Lill, I think whatever was down there left. Should we go back up? This place gives me the chills." Hailey asked, wondering if she was being unreasonable.

"Why leave now, little girl. The fun's just beginning. Hailey barely held back a gasp, twirling around to see a ruby-haired woman with an Arbok coiled around her feet. (Ironically like how Hisser does with Lara.)

"Grab a seat… stay a while." She smiled sinisterly, snapping her fingers together.

Hearing the signal, the Arbok hissed at Lilly and Hailey, the evil face on the hood of the snake's head somehow grew larger as the poison type hissed. Hailey and Lilly fell with a thud onto the unstable floors, stiff as boards. With another snap of her fingers, Arbok coil around Hailey's paralyzed body, wrapping her into a bind.

The woman strode confidently past Hailey and plucked Lilly off the ground, holding her disdainfully by the tail.

"Tsk, Tsk. You call this a Pokémon? This thing's more like a purse-accessory." She chuckled, gesturing for Arbok to follow her down to the pit of the tower.

"W-what? W-who are you?" Hailey gasped, struggling for control over her jaw. Never before had she experienced paralysis. Only had she been electrocuted and whipped. Nothing more, nothing less. The lady grinned, her lips an unnatural bright red.

"Just call me Athena, okay kiddo? Now, I hear that you're working as one of Clair's gym trainers. Am I right?" She asked.

Unable to nod, Hailey choked out a "yes."

"Well then, you must have spare keys for the gym, correct?" Athena questioned, finally reaching the bottom of the tower.

"Yes." Hailey said, barely able to say anything more than a 'yes' or a 'no'.

She grinned maliciously, pulling a cage from out of a pile of debris, dropping the stiff Lilly into the cage and closing it with a CLUNK.

"And you'll give this key to me, right?" A glace wriggling its way onto her face, she managed to raise her voice.

"No!"

Athena's eyes shot open.

"What did you just say, little girl?" She asked.

Swallowing her fears, she said, "because I don't want to."

"Want to play dirty, eh? Fine by me. As you know, Kiddo, the three legendary Pokémon of the Burnt Tower live here," she said as she flicked a light switch on, revealing three cages with three very angry Pokémon: Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Hailey couldn't help but stare for a moment before composing herself.

Forcing herself to stay calm, she stated, "so?"

"So, Kiddo, unless you want these three and your little purse accessory here to pay the piper… I suggest you fork over the keys." She threatened, a smirk widening across her face.

Finally regaining movement in her right fingers, she felt along her waist for her pokeballs.

"Nope." Hailey said, releasing a random Pokémon. _Please be Blue, please be Blue._ Hailey prayed, only to have still weakened Hart pop out, immediately snarling at Athena.

The red-head actually looked surprised. "Unovian Pokémon? Here? What? T-that's impossible! No one's allowed in or out of that place!" She gasped.

"T-take do-down." She commanded, watching as Hart tackled the woman to the ground, snarling in her face.

Hailey's gaze flickered from her Herdier mauling her attacker to the three legendary Pokémon as they attempted to burn, freeze, electrocute, bite, and headbutt their ways out.

Hailey gasped as she felt Arbok's grip around her ribcage tighten, clearly punishment for releasing Hart. There was no chance that she'd be able to reach Blue's ball now.

With Athena seeing stars, Hart turned aggressively towards Arbok, growling before lunging at Arbok. Arbok screeched in agony, loosening its grip on Hailey, who couldn't wriggle free due to the paralysis. Hailey smiled freely, moving her ankles around in circles. The paralysis was steadily wearing off, as glare wasn't a very powerful attack.

"Vee!" Lilly cried, having already gotten over her paralysis as she rammed her skull into the cage in an attempt to free herself.

"Lilly, use iron tail instead!" Hailey cried, ginning as she began damaging the cage with her iron tail attack.

"Hart, thunder fang!"

"Herd!" Hart barked, barely audible due to the three legendaries screaming as they attempted to break the bars of their cages.

Hart began coating his fangs in electricity before clamping down on the purple serpent's tail, causing it to drop Hailey.

THUD.

"Ow… well at least I'm out…" Hailey muttered, regaining control of her right arm and her left leg.

"Finally, help me out, Blue!" Hailey yelled, popping the Dratini out of its poke ball.

"Tini!" Blue cried, awaiting instruction.

"Help Lilly escape that cage." She commanded, rubbing her right leg in an attempt to wake it up. Blue nodded, slithering past his trainer to assist Lilly.

In seconds, Lilly and Blue began helping Hart attack the Arbok, knocking the snake out cold with very little effort. Blue and Hart then turned to Hailey, awaiting their next command, but Lilly, she went to the now unconscious Athena, nosing through her pockets.

"What are you doing, Lilly?" Hailey asked cautiously, looking around as though she expected more people to ambush them.

Lilly pulled her head up from the woman, a remote with a series of colorful buttons on it. "What's that?" Hailey asked, forgetting about Raikou, Entei, and Suicune who were still fighting to get out of their cages.

The biggest button was red, with the words, **'Activate' **spelled beneath it.

Hailey blinked. "What…?." She shook her head. "Let's just focus on helping Raikou, Entei, and Suicune." Hailey stuttered, nervous that the legendaries would lash out at her once she set them free.

Taking the remote from Lilly's jaws and placing it in her backpack for safekeeping, she looked back at Athena, who was still out cold.

"Please don't wake up." She pleaded, kneeling down beside the ruby haired woman as she searched her belongings for keys to the cages. Quickly becoming uncomfortable, Hailey got back to her feet and turned to her Pokémon.

"Um.. how about we just try breaking the locks instead?" The three nodded in unison, each taking a different cage.

Hart took Entei, Blue took Raikou, and Lilly took Suicune. Hart was trying to freeze the lock off with ice fang, which was working well, as it seemed like it was heat resistant, but not freeze resistant. Blue was using his new move, dragon tail to knock the lock off, which would've worked by now if his accuracy was better. Lilly was trying to pick the lock with her claw first, hanging onto the bars while she worked.

_Who on earth trained her? What made her this smart? I wouldn't have the common sense to try that… _Hailey thought, watching Lilly in awe.

She then began to notice that each Pokémon seemed to reflect its former trainer's style. Clair's being brute force, Lenora's being strategy, and whoever Lilly's trainer's style being common sense and gracefulness.

Entei's was the first to go, Hart quickly was knocked to the ground with a yelp as Entei charged through the cage door, not shooting Hailey a single glance as it bounded somewhere else in the tower.

"Hart! Are you alright?" She asked, helping her Herdier back on its paws.

Hart gave a bark, shaking his fur out.

Hailey gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness," she said, turning to her other Pokémon.

"Once you get the lock off, get out of the way otherwise they'll just knock you aside." Hailey warned, stroking Hart's head.

Blue and Lilly gave nods, not taking their eyes off the locks.

Raikou's went next, and much like Entei, Raikou barreled out of the cage, giving a triumphant roar as it leapt away after Entei.

"Nice job, Bluey." Hailey praised, patting his head.

"Tini!" Blue cried, acting as though it was nothing.

Hailey turned her attention back to Lilly. Her eyes lit up in excitement for a moment, quickly moving her claw around in the lock.

"Eve!" She cried, nodding to Suicune before leaping out of the beast's path.

Suicune shot the door open with a hydro pump, jumping soundlessly onto the ground, emitting a low growl as it moved in on the unconscious Athena. Hailey's eyes widened in shock.

Her Pokémon just watched as though it was nothing, not caring what happened to the woman who'd hurt Hailey.

"S-Suicune, no! Stop, Suicune! She-she didn't know what she was doing! STOP!" She screeched.

Suicune hesitated before stopping, shooting a glare at Athena, then glaring at Hailey.

Hailey knew she'd just made a terrible mistake.

"Cune.. Sui!" Suicune snarled, leaping on top of Hailey, pinning her to the ground.

Their eyes met: Hailey's were flushed with fear and tears, and Suicune's were stern and wise.

"SUIIIIIIIIII!" Suicune screamed, its breath warm and moist and smelled like fresh rain on her face.

And like that, Suicune let Hailey up and was gone in mere seconds.

Her eyes wide and her heart pounding, the world spun around again, only this time it was blurry; as though a Team Plasma guard had punched her in the face one too many times. She heard voices, familiar and loud, indicating that they were close, but yet they sounded faded like her vision. Hailey moaned and let the shock knock her out.

XXX

Hailey began to come to as Clair gently slapped her cheeks.

"Hailey. Hailey wake up. Come on, we don't have all day!" She snapped, slapping her a little harder. Hailey's eyes jolted open at the sudden bout of pain.

"Ow!" She yelped. Clair gave a sigh of relief, gripping Hailey's hands and pulling her up.

"Thanks." Hailey mumbled, taking a minute to recall what happened. She immediately looked to where Athena had been, only to see that her attacker was gone.

"Did you guys do something with her?" She asked.

Clair looks confused, looking up to a blond man with a purple bandana-like tied around his forehead. Hailey then began to notice that it wasn't just her and Clair in the tower.

The other new gym trainers were there, the blond man, and there was another blond man in a purple tux staring emptily where the three legendary beasts had run.

"Who?" Clair asked, suddenly looking concerned.

"The red haired girl with the Arbok."

XXX

_"So… you failed the mission, Ariana?" The man asked, a younger blond girl sitting to the right of Ariana. Ariana was far too stunned to attack her 'boss' with words. _

_ "That girl is too smart for her age!" Ariana blurted. _

_"What do you mean?" _

_ "She… Suicune was trying to attack me after the girl freed it. That little brat told it to back off and leave me alone… and it listened to her. Although afterwards it pinned her down and screamed right in her face, but it still listened to her. She could destroy everything we stand for if we don't get rid of her." _

_ The 'boss's' eyes widened in shock, it even seemed to impress the blond. "She controlled Suicune? Did she threaten it?" _

_ "No. She just told it no and that I didn't know what I was doing." _

_ "What Pokémon did she have?" _

_"She had an Eevee, a Dratini, and a…. Herdier." _

_ A grin formed over the man's face. "Well then why track the brat down ourselves when we have others that'll do it for us? Domino, fetch me a grunt now would you?" Domino glared at him. _

_ "You aren't the boss, Archer. The only one who'll ever hold my respect is Giovanni. But if it means that there will be one less threat keeping us from getting Giovanni back, then fine, I'll get you a grunt you lazy-" _

_ "That's quite enough, Domino." Archer said. _

_Domino muttered something else under her breath, leaving the door and coming back in with a grunt. _

_"You! Get me in touch with Unova's leader. I don't care how, just do it!" Archer commanded. _

_ The grunt shakily saluted to Archer, quickly scrambling to get Unova's contact information. Archer grinned. _

_ "And we're one step closer to gaining world domination." _


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Once upon a nightmare

**Last filler before the time skip, just wanted to get Hailey some more Pokémon before we skip seven years. **

_ "Give Larvesta back!" The young man shouted, struggling in the Plasma Guard's grasp as he was dragged out of Victory Road. _

_ One of the guard's associates had managed to return his Larvesta to its poke ball, leaving the crimson eyed boy defenseless. His other Pokémon, Flareon and Charizard, had been seized as well. _

_"And let you oppress it? I think not." The associate smirked, shining his flashlight in the man's face. "Now, keep quiet and maybe we'll spare you and your other little rebel friends." _

_ "Ha! Like I even believe that you have them. They're all too smart for you." He said cockily, praying to Arceus that he was right. _

_ "Well then compared to your friends you must be especially stupid."_

_ A vein in his forehead bulged, he began thrashing harder to escape the Guard's grip, only to be tasered. Visible blue electricity raced through his body after he fell. _

_ "Somebody got a better taser." He commented._

_ The guard shrugged with a smirk. "You could say that." _

XXX

Clair, Hailey, and the other Blackthorn gym trainers finished training with Morty and were just arriving in Goldenrod City. Clair still thought that Hailey had hallucinated due to Suicune's roar and had never actually encountered a woman with an Arbok.

"I'm telling you, Clair there really was a lady! She paralyzed Lilly and I and trapped Raikou, Entei, and Suicune in cages, honest!" Hailey insisted, struggling to keep pace with the gym leader as they neared the Pokémon center.

"Hailey, Eusine himself has been studying Suicune for many years and knows that interacting with an aggressive Suicune can cause hallucinations and confusion. Besides, the trauma from Suicune pinning you may have just triggered it in your subconscious." Clair snapped, making Hailey flinch.

Clair sighed.

"Look, how about after we drop our stuff of at the Pokecenter, I take you to meet Whitney early and we spend the day with her." Clair offered, slightly afraid to leave the girl to her own devices in such a large city.

"Ok…" Hailey muttered, trying very hard to hide her anger.

Lilly, who was sitting atop Hailey's shoulder, felt her shoulders tense up. She knew very well how frustrated she was.

"Great. Oh! I almost forgot, before we go see Whitney, I need to pay Bill a visit. He lives here."

"Who's Bill?"

"He designed the PC system for Johto and Kanto. We went to the trainers' school together." Clair explained.

Hailey nodded.

"Ok, I guess it wouldn't hurt to see him." She shrugged, not knowing what else to say.

XXX

Bill's house was rather small, hidden away from most of the hustle and bustle of Goldenrod. He didn't have much of a yard either… but by the way Clair spoke of him, he didn't seem like the outdoorsy type so it didn't really matter.

Clair didn't even bother knocking. She just opened the door, which was unlocked much to Hailey's surprise.

Bill sat on his couch, his nose buried in a book. Hailey brightened. Bill seemed like her type of guy.

"EVE!" Lilly cried, leaping off Hailey's shoulder, nearly knocking her back into the wall.

Lilly tackled Bill, making him drop his book as she licked at his face.

"Whoa! Lilly is that you? I haven't seen you in years." Bill laughed, sitting back up with the Eevee in his lap.

Hailey's face lit up with hope.

"You know Lilly?" She asked.

Bill nodded. "Oh yes! Lilly is Taylor's Pokémon. But I haven't heard from her in a long time… is she here?" Bill asked hopefully, scanning the room for his old friend.

Clair stepped forward. "We believe that Taylor is either still living in Unova under Team Plasma's rule, or is dead. Hailey here found Lilly in her poke ball in a forest near the Pokémon league." Clair explained, looking at Bill in the eye.

He froze, his smile quickly fading. Lilly's ears drooped, her tail stopped wagging at the mention of Taylor.

Hailey looked to Clair, rage bottling itself in the pit of her stomach. "You recognized Lilly from the very beginning… and didn't tell me?!" Hailey snapped, letting her temper get the best of her.

Clair didn't meet Hailey's gaze. "Yes. I recognized her. But Lilly didn't seem to remember me at all. If she had then I would've told you."

"I've been wondering who the girl in Lilly's locket was for months now!"

"Hailey-"

"Stop." Bill said sternly, setting Lilly down on the couch before standing up.

"What Clair did is nothing but the past now. Let's focus on now. Please just let it go. Clair, I know you were just doing what you thought would be best for everyone. Clair, would you mind coming back later? I'm in the middle of something very important that could be a breakthrough in the technological developments of my-"

"Yes. I'll come back later. Come on, Hailey." Clair said, clearly bored by the sudden 'tetchy' side of Bill showing.

The two of them were silent for the remainder of the morning.

XXX

Clair had come back a little while later to Bill's, just without Hailey and Lilly this time, she had then headed over to Whitney's gym. Hailey had decided out of selfishness not to come to see Whitney due to her being so angry at Clair.

But, this gave Hailey and Lilly could sit in bed and finally get some reading done. Hailey opened the door, striding over to her bed.

There was a lump under the covers… Puzzled, Hailey peeled back the covers and saw a little box with a blue ribbon tied around it and a tag attached to the ribbon. Hailey and Lilly looked at each other, then at the box. Curious, Hailey read the note.

The tag read, _'If you love something, let it go.' _

Hailey blinked in surprise.

"If you love something, let it go." She echoed, wondering who'd left the gift and what he or she meant by it.

She exchanged confused glances with Lilly. "Ok then…" Hailey murmured, untying the box and peering inside.

It was a poke ball. She looked back at Lilly. "Why do people keep giving me Pokémon? I am perfectly capable of catching them on my own." Hailey grumbled.

Lilly shrugged, picking the sphere out of the box and offering it to Hailey. She accepted the ball and stared at it for a moment, taking in its features. It was polished and maybe even waxed; it looked fairly new and smelled factory-fresh. Hailey peered into the see-through part of the ball. A dog-like Pokémon stared back at her, wagging its tail quickly.

Hailey smiled and eagerly pushed the white button in the center, a white flash blinding her and Lilly as the Pokémon inside came out. The dog-like Pokémon immidately started making noise.

"Growl!" It barked, wagging its tail at Lilly and Hailey.

"H-hey, what's your name?" Hailey asked, her body naturally shaking at the sight of an unfamiliar Pokémon.

"Growl, Growlithe!" It yapped, licking Hailey's fingers.

Hailey immediately stiffened, recalling the moment when Storm's Zorua had done something similar, ripping her away from the life she was used to in Crown City. A part of her wished that it'd never happened, and that she was still reading her books beneath the oak tree that grew on her street and going to school and her old clothes even. It was much simpler living in Unova. Forcing herself to relax, she spoke again to the canine Pokémon.

"Growlithe? You're a Growlithe?" She asked, trying to remember what type Growlithe were.

They had come up once or twice in conversations with Lara, she'd shown her one of her Pokémon cards with one on it to give Hailey a visual.

The Growlithe barked its approval.

"Ok, now not to be awkward but… you're a guy right?" She asked, bracing herself to be yelled at again. For once, Growlithe howled and licked her face instead.

Hailey fist pumped the air, laughing. "Yes! Finally, I got the gender right!"

Her bad mood was reduced to nothing as she was attacked by the puppy Pokémon. She could hear Lilly snickering in the background, glad to see her trainer back in a good mood. Soon, Growlithe let her up. Hailey, still having a giggle fit, then gestured for Lilly and Growlithe to follow her outside, as she was too happy to just sit and read inside.

XXX

Hailey quickly remembered that Growlithe was a fire type. A stranger simply asked Hailey for the time and Growlithe snarled at the man and shot embers at him, sending the stranger running. She'd gotten a lot of stares for that one.

She had then decided to call him Goblet because the stranger he'd attacked was holding an old goblet filled with what looked to be coffee, but she could be wrong. Afraid that Goblet would attack another passerby, she returned him to his poke ball with a sigh.

"Well isn't this great? Clair doesn't believe me, Clair lied to me, and to top it off I got a Growlithe who won't let anyone even talk to me." Hailey grumbled, her excitement about getting a Growlithe quickly fading away.

By now, Hailey was itching to get back to Blackthorn City.

She was sick of Goldenrod.

XXX

She was back in the Pokecenter sitting in bed, her nose in a book, Goblet under her right armpit, and Lilly under her left armpit. It was pitch black outside, the only light being from her little clip-on book light. Ironically, the book was _The Pecha Fields, _the very book that she'd been reading when Zorua and Storm had shown up. The turning point in her life. She felt compelled to finish it though, even when Ms. Reggie wasn't there to enforce it. She may even write the book report that was supposed to be due two days after her execution date, just for the heck of it.

Hailey would give herself an A if she did write it. It'd be the first A she'd gotten for an essay. Math had always been her stronger side, although she wasn't awful at science. Hailey could actually be better at science than math if she wanted to. But she purposely dumbed herself down out of fear that Team Plasma would make her one of their scientists. The last thing she wanted was to work for Unova's oppressors, otherwise she would BE one of Unova's oppressors. Then she'd intimidate people, and Hailey didn't like to scare people. For she had been in the townsfolk's shoes for most of her childhood. If she had stayed in Unova, Hailey most likely would've followed her mother's footsteps after finishing school and would bake for a living. Most women either baked or sewed or farmed, whilst most men became a lumberjack or an architect not for designing the town, but for building it. Some however, strayed off the path and became artisans or started working for Team Plasma depending on their skills and use to the Unovian rulers.

Lilly passed out around an hour ago, never tending to stay up past ten 'O clock, and Hailey could tell that although Goblet was trying to 'keep watch', he was on the verge of sleeping as well. Hailey however, is a night owl so to speak; back in Unova she would stay up to around midnight every night. (Usually reading.)

She planned on putting the book down after she read two more pages though, not wanting to be too worn out to battle Whitney's trainers tomorrow. She finished the two pages quickly, setting the book down and letting sleep seize her.

XXX

Tonight, Hailey would witness a dream.

XXX

_There she was, in the spotlight once more, her countless fans screaming her name from the audience as she stepped onto the well lit stage. _

_Her chocolate-colored hair was done in a high foo-foo pony-tail adorned with all sorts of trinkets and bobbles, the sweet scent of her perfume heavy in her nose; she wore a long blue dress that trailed behind her with a large white bow tied around her midsection; her feet were elevated off the ground by four-inch teal heels that would occasionally snag on the dress as she walked. _

_ Loud fast-paced pop music blared in the background, nearly drowning out the cries of her many fans. She could see several signs in the crowd all made for her. She felt truly welcomed. Finally, as the music decreased in volume, she spoke. _

_"Icy wind and willow whisp!" Suddenly and elegantly, a Glaceon and an Arcanine leapt out from behind the coordinator, the Glaceon blowing a frosty breeze across the stage, and the Arcanine shooting blue and white embers into the mix. _

_ Just as she'd planned, the purposely small whisps were overpowered by the frost, bursting on impact into a glittery shower of dying embers, the icy wind carrying the embers straight over the crowds' heads, causing them to shriek in delight. _

_ Glaceon and Arcanine exchanged proud glances as the judges and crowd gawked over the beauty of the attacks. She however, still had more to show the spectators. _

_"Ice beam into a funnel shape! Fire fang!" She cried, pointing to where she wanted Glaceon and Arcanine to launch their attacks. _

_ Glaceon flawlessly executed the attack, the ice smooth and thin and beautiful just as she had practiced. Arcanine leapt up into the air using its incredible core strength towards the ice spiral, coating its fangs in flames before clamping onto the tip of the ice. Water began to rain down on the crowd, just as she had planned. _

_ "Wild charge!" She cried, watching in delight as Arcanine's fur cloaked itself in electricity, knocking the now electrically charged droplets back towards the waiting Glaceon. _

_"Freeze 'em solid!" She commanded. _

_Glaceon nodded, spitting small bits of ice at the electricity-filled water droplets, freezing each individual drop into tear-drop like hunks of ice. _

_"Catch some for us, Arcanine!" She hollered. _

_ Arcanine nodded in mid-air, catching only three of the droplets - one for each judge - as he stuck his landing. The rest of the ice droplets shattered on the stage, the electricity shocking a small area around it. Arcanine then trotted towards the judges and offered each of them one of the ice chunks, which they graciously accepted. The crowd roared its applause, causing her eyes to light up and for Glaceon and Arcanine to grin profusely at each other. _

_She could see it: the judges handing her the perfectly crafted contest ribbon. She could hear it: The crowd applauding and her bitter competitors booing at her out of sheer jealousy. Oh how she wanted it…_

_ Suddenly, the power is cut, the officers securing the doors are dead - shot - blood oozing from the single bullet wounds on their temples. In front of her, a pair of glaring amber eyes paralyzed her out of fear. The lights are back on, a Plasma banner is strung across the exit, acting like a Curtin in a way. Heavily armed Plasma Guards corralling her many defenseless fans into corners, more heavily armed Plasma Guards taking the judges into the corner as well. _

_ A snarling Zoroark and its master stood in front of her. The boy's familiar green locks of hair draped onto his forehead, his green eyes hard and staring, a beaten up poke ball in his fist. _

_She looks desperately to her two Pokémon to help her escape - Arcanine is tasered, down for the count - Glaceon looks thunder-struck, staring at the poke ball as though it was a loaded gun. _

_Wordlessly, he points the ball towards Glaceon - his face is still without emotion - he ushers the traditional words, the red beam eating Glaceon alive. _

_ At last he portrays emotion - sympathy - he tells her the words, "I'm sorry," as he steps aside. A loaded guard takes his place, a hand gun raised. _

_A sound of thunder. _

XXX

Last night, Hailey had witnessed a nightmare.

XXX

Hailey awoke shaking, beads of sweat pouring down her face. She feels a wet towel on her forehead, her eyes dart to the clock. It's one thirty in the afternoon. She looks to the door and sees Goblet standing guard. Her eyes stray to the foot of her bed, Lilly was lying down looking at ease, grooming her tail. Her other Pokémon's balls are still sitting on her nightstand, untouched. However, all the other beds are empty.

_They must've thought that I was sick and left to train without me. _Hailey thought, pulling the damp towel off her head and sitting up, gaining the attention of Goblet and Lilly, who immidately stopped what they were doing and gathered around their trainer.

Hailey gave the faintest smile, still thoroughly shaken by the dream. No, that was no dream, but a nightmare. However, Hailey couldn't help but imagine Goblet being a powerful yet graceful Arcanine, or Lilly evolving into such a beautiful ice type.

She stroked their heads silently, reliving the nightmare for a moment. Hailey recalled Lara telling her of Pokémon Contests, how grand and well planned they were. She'd always liked the idea of her Pokémon showing off rather than knocking each other around. Now her liking for the contest had wriggled its way into her greatest dreams gone nightmares. The more Hailey looked at Lilly and thought of the dream part of the nightmare, the less she could shake the image of her being a Glaceon.

Blackthorn City was right next to the Icy Path, so it shouldn't be too hard to evolve her… Hailey winced at nothing but a mere thought: what will Clair think of that? An ICE type training at her DRAGON type gym? Hailey could get kicked out of the gym for doing that… Hailey's eyes narrowed.

_You know what? I don't care what Clair thinks. She lied to me, she lost all the respect that I had for her. Lilly's my Pokémon now. I can do whatever I want with her. Screw Clair, I don't care what she thinks, not anymore. _Hailey thought, finally deciding on her evolution.

"Growl?" Goblet barked, worried that Hailey hadn't spoken yet.

Hailey blinked, just now realizing it herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not sick, I promise, I just had a… disturbing… nightmare is all." She insisted, forcing a smile.

"Growlithe!" Goblet yapped, licking Hailey's face in response.

Lilly, being more subtle with her affections, instead curled up on her lap.

"Eve…" She yawned.

PING, PING. Blue and Hart released themselves from their pokeballs, Hart jumping onto the bed and Blue snaking around Hailey's midsection, resting his head atop of Lilly's hind leg on her lap.

Hailey smiled. "Yep… it was only a dream."

XXX

Clair, Hailey, and the rest of the Blackthorn gym trainers returned to Blackthorn the following morning. Lara and Hisser had been in the airport waiting for Hailey to get off her plane, wanting to battle her to see if she'd improved at all during the trip to Ecruteak and Goldenrod City.

"Hailey! What took you so long?" She prompted.

"I-"

"No time! Battle, now!" Lara demanded, practically dragging Hailey out of the airport.

"L-Lara!" Hailey whined, sick of her friend dragging her everywhere.

PING. Goblet released himself from his poke ball, firing an ember attack at Lara, who screamed in response, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Since when do you have Growlithe?" She asked, slapping an ember out of her hair.

"Goblet, no!" Hailey scolded, looking back at Lara apologetically. "Sorry! He's just… overprotective I guess. I got him back in Ecruteak City."

Rather than being angry or afraid or shaken, Lara clasped her hands together.

"That's awesome! Finally, you have a Pokémon with some spunk!"

Hailey sweat-dropped. "Yeah… spunk, that's the right word…"

Goblet yapped happily at the comment, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

"Any other new ones?" Lara asked.

Hailey shook her head, "nope. Just Goblet." She said, patting his head.

"When are you evolving him?" Hailey shrugged, "I don't know about him yet, but I finally did decide on Lilly's evolution."

Lara's eyes sparkled with excitement at the mention of Lilly evolving. "What did you decide on? Espeon? Leafeon? Flareon? Vaporeon? Umbreon? Sylveon? Jolteon? Which one?"

"The only one you didn't mention."

Her eyes widened. "Hailey you train with dragon types and Clair! You can't do that!"

"Says who? She's my Pokémon." Hailey argued, her voice steadily rising in volume.

Lara sighed. "You know, it's a pretty big deal to be chosen by Clair for her gym, if it were me, I wouldn't blow it."

Hailey stayed silent for a moment.

"It's not like I'm going to be a gym trainer for the rest of my life, you know. The more I think about it, the more I want to be a coordinator." Hailey said, pushing one of her hair-hoops behind her shoulder.

Lara laughed. "You? A coordinator? I can barely see you wearing a skirt, let alone the fancy smancy dresses and heels they wear. You're rougher, tougher than a coordinator, you're a trainer!"

"Well maybe I don't want to be a trainer anymore!" She snapped, making Goblet and Lilly flinch. "Sorry… I just… I just don't know what to do." Hailey whispered, suddenly feeling bad about snapping.

Lara waved it off like she always did, "it's just fine, Hailey. But seriously, don't tell Clair that you're thinking of leaving otherwise she will give you the boot probably right after you're done talking with her. Sit on it, maybe practice on the side and watch contests on TV and make sure it's what you really want."

Hailey blinked her surprise. "Wow… you actually make sense for once."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"N-Nothing!"

"Ok! Now can we battle?"

"After I take Lilly into the Icy Path then yeah sure."

"Are you sure about Glaceon? 'Cuz Espeon can do some pretty neat-o stuff. Like this one time, I was watching a contest special with my mom at home, were you use three Pokémon to impress the judges instead of one and this teal-haired teenager had this Espeon, Flareon, and Vaporeon competing. She ordered Flareon to use flame thrower, and Vaporeon to use hydro pump, and Espeon to use psychic to manipulate the attacks, and then BOOM! There's bits of fire and water flying all over the place! It was awesome!" Lara gawked, looking all giddy as she described the event.

Hailey shook her head. "I'm positive. Glaceon are very elegant and powerful from what I've heard of them."

"If you're sure… but have you asked Lilly about it? Does she want to evolve into Glaceon?" Lara asked, looking down at the plush furred Pokémon.

Guilt flooded her body. She hadn't thought to consult Lilly about evolution. Hailey looked towards her Eevee, no, _Taylor's _Eevee. Technically Lilly wasn't even her own, and here she was about to force evolution upon her. Lilly looked forgivingly at Hailey, much to her relief.

"Are… are you ok with it? I won't make you if you don't want to."

Lilly's facial expressions told Hailey all she needed to know.

"Thanks." Was all Hailey could say.

XXX

_"Sage Gorm, why must I do this?" Storm asked quietly, clutching Moku tightly in his arms. _

_"Master Storm, please put Zorua down. If you are to journey in Johto and get the runaways back here you must learn to battle. Here, it is considered cruel and wrong, but in the other regions… to them its considered an art, a way of life. You must learn to adapt to their ways, not forever, but for the years you spend looking for your subjects, you must." Gorm explained, forcing himself not to lose his temper, or there would be dire consequences on his part. _

_Hesitating, Storm reluctantly set Moku down. _

_Gorm nodded his approval, releasing a rather easy opponent: a Patrat. _

_"Zorua knows scratch and growl, ok? You have the first move." _

XXX

She had left without Clair's permission, leaving Blue in her room at the dorms underneath the gym for his own protection and took Lilly, Hart, and Goblet in case if any hostile Pokémon got in her way while they walked around the Icy Path in search of the Icy Rock. This was no easy task. Hailey tried her best to look, but Lilly, however, was really the only one could find the rock, being that evolutionary hormones drove her to the rock subconsciously. Every so often, Lilly would squeeze into frozen crevasses and return with a look of frustration, her tail swishing in anger.

"You think we're close, Lil? It's getting kinda cold…" Hailey shivered, her breath warm and moist as it clouded around her face.

Lilly nodded, moving quicker down the narrow path, soon breaking out into a gallop.

"L-Lilly! Wait up!" Hailey cried, struggling to run without slipping on the frozen-over ground.

Lilly didn't slow down at all, in fact, she ran faster. Hailey tried running faster, only to trip and skid across the floor, crying out in pain as the ice and rock tore the flesh off her knees and elbows and scraped her cheek.

Lilly stopped, fighting her instincts and returning to Hailey, looking quite guilty. "Vee?"

Unlike most girls Hailey's age, she did not cry; she had too much practice NOT crying to cry.

"Yeah… I'm fine." She muttered, her voice portraying only the smallest hint of pain.

Hailey staggered to her feet, sliding around before she regained her balance. The pain was numbed by the cold, her blood quickly drying into solid droplets on her calves and knees. But Hailey had seen much worse pain, even the whipping had grown less painful for Hailey as she grew up. Scraped knees were nothing.

Lilly forced herself to slow her pace, now afraid that Hailey would fall again, but she was still driven to find the evolutionary stone. After a little more wandering and sliding around, Lilly stopped at a small crevasse, digging at the ice surrounding the small hole in the wall until she could crawl through it with a determined look on her face.

"Vee!" Lilly squealed in delight, her cries echoing throughout the cave.

"You find it?" She asks, putting her face in the hole.

"Eve!" Lilly cried, bounding over towards an incredibly large frozen stone.

Hailey smiled, barely able to contain herself, as she'd never experienced a Pokémon's evolution. Lilly sat down beside it, placing a single paw on the stone. All it took was a single touch before she began to glow white, rapidly changing forms.

The process took no more than two minutes before the light cleared, revealing the new Lilly: a slick blue furred Pokémon with larger ears; two dark blue, rhombus-shaped markings on its back, and the tip of its tail and feet the same shade of blue. Lilly appeared to be wearing a teal tiara on her head.

Only one thing didn't change about Lilly physically. She still had the golden locket dangling from her now skinny neck. No matter how much she would change, Taylor and her old life would never leave her.

"Glaceon!" Lilly cried, looking herself over with a large grin on her face.

Hailey couldn't stop smiling herself. "Come here!"

Lilly happily bounded back to the small crevasse and nuzzled Hailey's head through the now-too-small hole. After congratulating Lilly, Hailey stepped back.

"Use iron tail to make the hole bigger." Hailey commanded, shivering from being in the Icy Path for so long.

"Ceon!" Lilly nodded, coating her tail in iron and slamming it against the ice wall; her newfound power easily shattered the glass with only one attempt.

Lilly stepped down from the hole without a sound. Hailey patted her head, causing her to cry out in delight.

"Let's go home now. Maybe, if we're lucky Clair might just strangle us instead of throwing us into her lava pit." Hailey said dryly, beginning to head back to Blackthorn with her new Glaceon by her side.

XXX

Clair held her head in her hands when she saw the new Lilly. "What…. what did you do!?" She yelled, throwing her hands in the air.

Hailey narrowed her eyes. "She's my Pokémon-"

"No! She's not your Pokémon! She's Taylor's! And she will always be Taylor's Pokémon."

"Well according to you, Taylor's dead, so she's mine! I can make decisions for her without you breathing down my neck!" Hailey snapped, glaring at Clair.

"Put that monster in its poke ball right now!"

"I don't have the poke ball, so no!"

"What do you mean you don't have it? You said that you found her in the woods inside a poke ball! Where is it?"

"Still in Unova. It was taken away from me."

"Who has it?" "Team Plasma." Hailey whispered, realizing that technically, Lilly wasn't hers nor Taylor's.

Lilly was Team Plasma's property.

**Time skip time! ^_^**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: It was never over

**SOME POV SWITCHING IN THIS ONE**

**Seven years later…**

_ The King's eyes narrowed as he spoke to the anonymous caller over the phone._

_"She was spotted in Johto seven years ago? Is she still there?" He asked, nodding as he listened to the response. _

_"I see. Thank you for informing Unova of this. Goodbye, sir." He concluded, immediately dialing another number: Storm's. _

_He'd left two years prior on his quest to bring the escaped citizens of Crown City back to Unova. So far, he'd recaptured four. They were executed of course, as they had violated the rule of never leaving city boundaries. _

_He grumbled in frustration when he didn't answer. Storm only ever answered the phone at night when there would be no one eavesdropping on their conversations. _

_"Looks like I'll have to try later."_

XXX

**Storm's POV**

"Dragonair, no!" A younger trainer shouted as his dragon fell to the ground, moaning in agony.

Storm faintly smiled at his Zoroark, well at the moment Houndoom. He never liked or got the just of battling. Two years of it, and he felt no appreciation nor passion for the pain that it caused.

"Well done, Moku." He praised, gesturing for him to return to his side.

_Of course._

_"I'm glad that I've pleased you once more, Storm." _Moku barked sitting by Storm's feet.

"Y-your Houndoom is very strong, you know that, right? I bet you'd hold your own against Clair and her trainers up ahead at Blackthorn." He commented, returning Dragonair to its poke ball.

Storm nodded. "That is my intention. I have already seven badges, Blackthorn's gym is our last stop before we move onto the league."

He nodded. "That's cool-"

BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP!The boy stopped mid sentence and looked at his watch. "Oh yes! It's time! Clair's about to battle her top trainer! See ya!" He grinned, sprinting towards Blackthorn in all his excitement.

Storm stared blankly at where the trainer had just been.

_"Should we go watch, boss?" _Moku asked.

Storm blinked. "Yeah sure… why not."

XXX

"And the winner is Hailey!" Clair declared, ending the mini battle tournament between Hailey and Brendan.

"Nice try, Dragonite." He sighed, returning the large yellow Pokémon to its respectful ball.

Hailey grinned like an idiot, running onto the battle field and hugging Goblet's enormous neck.

"Arc! Arcanine!" He howled, pleased to see Hailey happy.

"That's my boy, that's my boy!" She smiled, squeezing his neck a bit tighter before letting go.

"Hey, Hailey, you know what this means right? You have to battle Clair now." Brendan smirked.

Anxiety replaced Hailey's happiness. "Oh Arceus why me?" She murmured nervously, returning Goblet to his poke ball.

"Yep, and it looks like we have a bit of an audience." Clair said coolly, looking at the small crowd gathering around the battle field, some with cameras and some without.

Hailey gulped, feeling the pressure. "Feel free to use Lilly. I won't care, it'll just make me look better when I win." She said cockily, her eyes challenging.

Hailey and Lilly exchanged glances and nodded. "Ok, since you insist."

"Brilliant," she said, turning to the referee. "Hey ref, get us started."

The referee nodded, pulling his red flag back out. "Trainers, take your sides." He commanded.

Clair and Hailey nodded, each taking a different side.

"Let the battle… begin!" The ref declared, swiping the battle flag through the air.

"Go, Gyarados!" Clair shouted, grinning when she saw Hailey's moment of panic.

_So that's how she wants to play it… not using a dragon type after inviting me to use Lilly… _Hailey thought, gritting her teeth.

"Let's show 'em what we've got, let's go Lilly!" Hailey yelled. "Ceon!" Lilly cried, eagerly leaping onto the battle field.

_Let's see how you deal with this strategy. _She smirked, waiting for Clair to make the first move.

"Gyarados, twister attack!"

"Use blizzard to counter!" Hailey commanded, not about to let Clair upstage her in front of the townsfolk, even if she was the gym leader.

The two attacks stayed evenly matched, it was now a mere waiting game: which Pokémon would run out of steam first?

"Alright, we aren't playing this game, Gyarados, water it down with hydro pump!"

Before Hailey could react, blizzard was quickly overpowered, the sudden blast of water knocking Lilly aside.

"Gla!" Lilly cried, shaking the water from her fur as she got back up.

She didn't look happy, as she'd never been a huge fan of water.

"Don't let it get away! Toxic let's go!" Gyarados roared in response, a toxic gas leaking from its mouth.

"Repel it with blizzard!" Hailey yelled, desperate for Lilly to evade poisoning.

"Ceon." Lilly nodded hastily, blowing another blizzard in the Gyarados's face, causing the toxic gas to disappear.

Clair gritted her teeth when the move failed.

"Lilly, use ice beam to freeze Gyarados to the ground!"

Lilly grinned, firing an ice beam at Gyarados's underside.

"Use crunch to get free, then thunder bolt!"

"Use dig then trap yourself underground with ice beam!"

Lilly nodded, quickly digging a short tunnel before freezing the entrance solid. Gyarados easily broke free, shocking the ice covering the hole, not realizing what Lilly had just done until it was too late.

"Lilly, now!"

"Ceon!" Lilly cried, resurfacing just beneath Gyarados, knocking it a few paces back.

"Don't let it off the hook that easily, icy wind!" Hailey shouted.

"Fire blast!"

"Gla!" Lilly cried out in alarm, her icy wind melting before the flames even came in contact with it.

"Outa the way!" Hailey cried, watching anxiously as Lilly barely dodged the attack, a light but painful burn mark on her right shoulder.

Lilly winced, but shook it off.

"Try fire blast again! This battles dragged on long enough!"

"Use dig to escape!" Hailey stuttered, struggling to think of an idea.

"Resurface behind Gyarados and use iron tail!"

In a split second, Lilly burst from the ground, her tail a shiny metallic gray. Gyarados was completely ill prepared and didn't dodge, getting hit square in the back of the head. Gyarados roared in pain and frustration, using thrash without Clair's command.

"Gyarados! What are you doing? Stop that!" Clair pleaded, already knowing that it was too late.

Gyarados just confused itself.

"Use quick attack to get in close then use ice fang!" Lilly nodded, gaining a quick burst of speed.

She narrowly dodged the thrashing Gyarados, digging her claws into the crazed Gyarados's tail, climbing the Pokémon's body until she reached the head, where she promptly clamped her icy jaws.

"Excellent!"

"No, no! Quickly, use thunder!"

"Mirror coat!"

Clair's eyes widened as Lilly coated herself in a transparent veil, the thunder attack bouncing right off her and hitting her Gyarados. Gyarados screeched in pain, the electricity coursing through its body. It gave a final roar before falling to the ground, spirals dancing in its eyes.

"You did it!" Hailey beamed, kneeling down and hugging the ice type, who lapped up the attention.

"Gla!" She cried, wagging her tail for a moment before turning her attention to Hailey's neck.

Lilly pawed at her gold locket that Hailey had taken off her before the tournament had started.

"Oh, right. Here you go." She smiled, unhooking the necklace from her own neck and snapping it onto Lilly's neck once more.

Hailey looked across the field to Clair, who looked like she wanted to kill something. It wasn't typical for her to lose at all, not to a challenger, and certainly not to one of her trainers. Hailey knew that she would've lost if Gyarados hadn't used thrash and screwed itself. Clair mumbled something before walking with a forced humility on her face towards Hailey.

"Good battle." She said stiffly, shaking Hailey's hand.

"Yeah, good battle. Gyarados did well." Hailey said shakily, wincing as Clair's grip around her hand tightened, cracking her hand.

She gave a sigh of relief when she let go, walking angrily back into the gym, ignoring the cheering of their small Blackthorn audience. Hailey shook off Clair's attitude, now used to it after training with her for nearly seven whole years. She came to Blackthorn on her tenth birthday; and today would mark her seventh year in Johto. Hailey had requested that nothing special be done for her birthday, as she didn't want anything else. Yes, she still had her dreams of performing at a Pokémon contest, but that wasn't something anyone could or would buy her.

Lara was out of town visiting her family in Sinnoh, so she didn't really have anything else to do for the day. Perhaps Eric would call her today. Nah, that's unlikely. He and Julie were most likely going for his first gym badge in the Hoenn region. He had collected all eight gym badges rather quickly in the Sinnoh region, and had taken a two day flight to Hoenn sometime last week. He's looking at houses now.

Hailey wondered what kinds of Pokémon he had at this point in time. Last time he'd shown her his Pokémon was a few months ago, and he'd had too many for her to remember. Hailey did however remember her favorite one that he'd shown her. It hadn't been his, but it just charmed the pants off Hailey. Her favorite was Julie's Delcatty. It's personality was serene and she just looked incredibly graceful - Hailey hadn't given up on the whole Coordinator idea quite yet - and intelligent. She was tempted to go to Hoenn just to get a Delcatty. Too bad she had the responsibility of a gym trainer. Oh, but her favorite Pokémon of her brother's had to be his Pikachu. It was small, cute, and powerful. Just the way she liked them, besides, it was an electric type and she didn't have one yet.

Hailey looked down at Lilly, observing the slight sear mark on her shoulder.

"Here, let's go to the pokemart and buy a burn heal for you." Hailey decided, not wanting to have to deal with the Nurse Joys and Chansey fussing over Lilly's slight burn.

She'd made that mistake when a trainer challenged her in the gym with a Magmar; Lilly had been burnt on her flank, just a little though like this one. Then she'd taken her into the Pokecenter to get healed only for the Joys wanting to keep her for many, many hours even after the burn was healed. The point is, unless the damage done to one of her Pokémon couldn't be fixed with a hyper potion or any of the other healing sprays sold at the pokemart, Hailey didn't use to Pokémon center.

"Alright, let's go buy that burn heal." Hailey smiled, waiting for Lilly to follow her.

"Ceon." Lilly shrugged, acting as though the burn wasn't a big deal.

She was tough like Hailey.

XXX

**(Storm's POV)**

_"Master! Master we're missing the battle!" _Moku whined, willing for his trainer to hurry up.

Storm nodded. "Yes. I wish only to see the end of the battle, Moku. You know how I feel about watching to Pokémon practically rip each other apart, don't you? I'd prefer to only see the end."

_"That doesn't mean that I don't like watching! I'm the one who does all the heavy lifting in this partnership you know." _Moku grumbled.

Storm sighed. "You can go ahead and watch it then. I'll catch up." He assured, giving the Zoroark his approval.

Moku flashed him a grin before dashing away, running faster than Storm could ever hope to run himself.

XXX

Storm had purposely waited until the battle had ended, bracing himself for the aftermath. It was just easier that way. He knew the battle had ended when he heard Gyarados's scream and seen a sudden burst of electricity from above the rolling hills that led up to Blackthorn City.

Storm broke out into a jog, suddenly curious to see what had destroyed Gyarados. He reached the end of the route and the entrance to Blackthorn with ease. His journey had made things like running much easier and less time consuming. In the town's center, a large electrically-charged dust cloud was gradually sinking back to the earth, but the defeated Gyarados was easily seen through the dust. It was the winning Pokémon that he couldn't see.

_Perhaps a Pikachu or Raichu defeated Gyarados, it would explain why I can't see it and the large electric burst. But it could always be a normal type… or perhaps… no. It couldn't be. I doubt, no. I KNOW that I will never see that girl or that Eevee ever again. _

Storm wove his way through the crowd, scanning the area for not only the winning Pokémon, but for Moku as well. He may look like a Houndoom for the moment, but one screw up and his illusion would ware off; they'd be discovered. Moku wasn't exactly one to start fights, but he still worried about him.

The dust finally cleared. A girl around his age, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old with chocolate brown hair strung into near-perfect circular hoops on either side of her head wearing a light blue and gray jacket and jeans stood on the winning side. A Glaceon - her Glaceon - ran up to the girl, who embraced her into a hug and showered her with praises.

Storm couldn't stop staring when he saw a gold light flash from her neck. She unhooked something from her neck and put it around the ice type's neck. The girl murmured something to the Glaceon, running her fingers over her scorched shoulder. Storm was stiffer than a board, his suspicions high.

Not only might he have found an escaped citizen, but he may have found _her._

XXX

**Hailey's POV**

The pokemart was unusually empty. It was never really crowded, but it always had some happy-go-lucky or nosy wanna-be trainers blowing all their cash on dozens of pokeballs and potions in hopes of achieving the impossible: collecting Clair's badge and qualifying for and beating the Pokémon league. But now, there was only two locals in the store reading Pokémon magazines, acting like the pokemart was some sort of salon.

"Hi, Hailey. How goes it?" One of the clerks asked, her usual smile making Hailey forget the store's emptiness.

"I just need a burn heal." Hailey said, gesturing to Lilly's burnt shoulder.

"Gotcha. Here you are." She grinned, placing one of the rather small sprays on the desk. Hailey nodded, forking over 200 poke.

"Thank you, Hailey! Have a nice day." The clerk said, waving goodbye.

"Congrats on beating Clair!" The other clerk chimed in, also waving goodbye.

Hailey nodded, waving goodbye to the clerks. "Alright, Lilly. Let's go back to the gym- oh wait. Clair's still probably in her 'mood'. We should go sit in the shade then." Hailey decided, walking to one of the few large trees in Blackthorn, as it was especially hot today and she didn't want Lilly to be uncomfortable.

The two sat on the cold boulders that the tree's shade protected as Hailey quickly sprayed the burn with the burn heal, knowing from experience that it was better to do this quickly than gradually. Lilly stiffened as the spray made contact with her skin, but sighed in relief as the medicine quickly dealt with the burn.

"Feel better?" Hailey asked.

"Gla." Lilly nodded, giving a content sigh and curling up against Hailey's knee cap.

Hailey slowly closed her eyes as she rubbed behind Lilly's ears.

"Excuse me?" A frighteningly familiar voice asked.

Hailey's eyes shot open, as did Lilly's. Hailey looked at the boy talking to her. He looked around her age with short black hair and darker green eyes. A Houndoom stood by his side.

"I saw you battle and I just wanted to know your name-"

Hailey's eyes widened.

"My name is Billy Jean, I don't live here and this is NOT I repeat NOT my Glaceon. I'm just holding it for my cousin's neighbor's sister's aunt's niece's long lost relative!" Hailey said quickly, beads of sweat forming on her forehead; her blue eyes wild with fear.

Normally, she didn't act this way to strangers, but there was something about him that was familiar, and his face seemed to reopen the scars on her back. Lilly looked at Hailey as though she was crazy. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Hailey spoke first.

"You know, as much as I'd love, love, love, LOVE to stay and talk, I should really be getting L- erm Glaceon back to that long last relative… bye!" Hailey said, her mouth dry as she got to her feet, practically falling down the slope that the tree sat upon. Hailey held back a scream when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"P-please let me go! I-I need to-"

"You are truly the worst liar in all of Johto." He said. Hailey gulped, not knowing what to do.

"Now please, your name."

_"Hailey, your name. Don't forget your name, ok?"_ Ms. Reggie's voice… she hadn't remembered her in years. His tone sounded much like hers.

Hailey forced herself to be calm.

She cleared her voice, "sorry. I just get a little erm… nervous is all. My name's Jane, and this is my Glaceon. We're from Goldenrod City." Hailey said coolly, hoping that she fooled him.

"What's your name?"

He released her shoulder, but he still looked wary. Ignoring her question, he countered.

"Prove it. Show me Glaceon's poke ball." He challenged.

Hailey bit her lip until she tasted copper.

"I left Glaceon's in my room at the gym. If you insist on seeing it then I'll go get it."

He nodded. "Please." Hailey forced a loose shrug.

"C'mon, Glaceon," she said, turning back to the boy.

"I'll be back in a few."

XXX

Hailey was panicking. "WhatdoIdowhatdoIdoWHATDOIDO?!" Hailey shouted, pacing back and forth in her room.

Lilly sat on Hailey's bed, not looking too sure of what to do either. "Who is that guy? Do you know him?"

Lilly shook her head.

Hailey sighed.

"Man I probably just made myself look like an idiot out here, and he was kinda cute too… I guess I overreacted, it's just his face… and how he spoke… It reminded me of Unova." Hailey murmured, stroking Lilly's head.

"Alright, I think I'm going to try to apologize. But, just to make sure you don't I'm going to leave you and the others back here so I can say that I had to deal with an emergency here in the gym and forgot my Pokémon. So just stay here and make sure NO ONE touches the pokeballs or let's themselves out. But, I'm keeping Goblet with me so if this thing goes south I have a way of escaping. You look after everyone while I'm gone. Okay?" Hailey said, pulling off her poke ball belt.

She then found Goblet and slid his poke ball into her pocket. Lilly nodded, dragging the belt under the bed.

"Good girl. I'll be back soon." Hailey promised, patting Lilly on the head before leaving.

XXX

**Storm's POV**

"Is it just me, or did that girl go mentally insane over the past seven years?" Storm muttered, staring intently at the gym doors.

_"Maybe she recognized you." _Moku shrugged.

"Perhaps," Storm said thoughtfully. "I doubt it though. I put on a different wig every time I catch someone that belongs to Crown City."

_"Watch your actual hair though. On the way here, I saw a few green hairs poking out." _Moku barked, looking at his trainer's head.

Suddenly alarmed, Storm quickly swiped his hand over his forehead where his hair line would be, shoving a few stray discolored hairs back under his wig.

"Thanks for that."

_"Don't mention it-" _Moku's head jerked back in the gym's direction.

_"There she is, boss!" _He yipped excitedly.

XXX

**Hailey's POV**

Hailey ran out, forcing herself to look more flustered than she already was.

"Sorry! I got caught up with something in the gym. What was I supposed to show you now?" She asked.

"That you were Glaceon's trainer."

"Oh! About that… All my Pokémon were needed for the big emergency inside the gym. There's a problem regarding the lava pit. Someone told me it was leaking or something, so I leant the gym my Pokémon to help with that." She lied, catching her breath.

"Oh. Well while we wait for that leak to be fixed, why don't we hang out." He suggested.

Hailey narrowed her eyes. "I don't even know your name. Tell me your name and maybe I'll hang out."

He seemed to freeze for a moment, slowly making eye contact with Houndoom who nodded. "My name is Sam." Sam replied curtly, not giving up anything more.

"Pleased to meet you, Sam." Hailey said, shaking is hand. _Whew, so he doesn't think I'm some creepy psycho girl._ Hailey thought, relaxing a little.

"So, where are you from?" Hailey asked.

"I'm from New Bark Town. Professor Elm let me have one of his Pokémon. I've been traveling for years now, just me and my Pokémon." He said.

Hailey smiled. "My brother got his first Pokémon from Professor Elm too. A Cyndaquil."

"That's cool. Oh and you're from Goldenrod, right?" He responded, not taking his eyes off her for a single second, almost as though he was afraid something would take her away.

His Houndoom was staring at his face, quietly growling.

"Is Houndoom okay? He seems upset." Hailey observed, eyeing the dark and fire type.

"Oh him? He's just upset because I promised him that once we got here we'd grab a bite to eat. Would you like to join us?" Sam offered.

Hailey's stomach growled almost on queue. "Yeah, sure thanks. It's lunch time anyway."

"Know any good places to eat around here?" Sam asked.

Hailey nodded. "The Dragon Café has nice sandwiches and they allow Pokémon to be out of their balls as long as they behave."

"Sounds good, lead the way." He grinned, gesturing for her to start moving.

Hailey giggled a little, feeling more comfortable already as she took the lead.

XXX

"Here you go, one tamato berry soups and sandwiches. Houndoom's food is nearly ready, one of the chefs dropped the food on the floor so we had to start over. My sincere apologies." The waiter said, placing the two soups and sandwich platter on the table.

"You two have a nice evening together."

Hailey turned redder than her soup.

"No, no it's not like that, we're just acquaintances. We just met literality forty minutes ago." But the waiter was already gone.

Hailey gave a sigh of relief, turning her attention back to her soup.

"So, you're top trainer at Clair's gym?" Sam asked, unaffected by the waiter's comment. Hailey nodded, swallowing a spoonful of the soup.

"In a way, yes."

He rose an eyebrow. "In a way how? Either you are or you're not."

"I guess I am, I just don't like bragging. Besides, I'm probably not going to stay a gym trainer forever, you know. Pokémon Contests amaze me, and I really want to try my luck in that business." Hailey said, staring emptily at her soup.

"How'd you get here?" Sam asked.

He was probing into her personal life, making Hailey stiffen a little.

"My father wanted to move the family to Azalea Town, and I didn't want to go because bug Pokémon freak me out; so my mother called her friend up here in Blackthorn to see if I could live with her instead. Then she bought me a plane ticket and here I am now." Hailey lied, hoping what she said sounded legit.

Their waiter came back, Houndoom's food dish in his hand.

"Sorry for the wait, enjoy." The waiter said, putting Houndoom's food on the ground.

Hailey and Sam nodded at the waiter, watching as he left.

"How many Pokémon do you have?" He asked, probing deeper.

"Well, I have Glaceon of course, a Dragonair, an Arcanine, and a…" Hailey's voice trailed off at the mention of her Stoutland, Hart.

"And…" He prompted.

"Oh, nothing. I forgot what I was talking about. I only have three."

"But you said that you left Glaceon's poke ball back in your room, when you had three pokeballs on your belt. What's the last one?"

Hailey choked, her heart beating faster than she thought was humanly possible.

He grinned, knowing he had gotten her.

XXX

**Storm's POV**

He felt satisfaction bubble inside him as he finally struck gold.

"Well? You going to answer?" Storm asked, playing with her at this point.

_"She's choking boss! You got her! Keep pressuring her." _Moku yipped, licking a chunk of kibble off his muzzle.

Storm flashed him a look of acknowledgement.

"Why don't you go get your Pokémon? Surely that magma leak has been taken care of by now."

"Uh… uh..." _Jane_ stuttered.

"Something wrong, Jane?" He pressed.

Jane had visible beads of sweat on her forehead. He almost felt badly for freaking her out this much.

_Almost._

XXX

**Hailey's POV**

Hailey stood frozen, her heart pounding. She felt Goblet's ball shaking angrily in her pocket. This gave her little reassurance. She drew in a deep breath.

"N-no, S-S-Sam, nothing's wrong." Hailey stuttered.

He spoke again, "how about we go outside, you're looking a little… flushed."

"Yeah… the soup's just really s-spicy, that's all really. I'll be back in a few-"

"Shouldn't Houndoom and I go with you?"

"No, no, I'm honestly just fine. Really. I do best when I'm alone." Hailey said nervously, getting out of her chair.

Much to Hailey's surprise, Sam just shrugged. "Alright, just come back when you're ready."

"O-okay… thanks." Hailey said, stunned that after playing with her mentally like that, he just let her go.

_This dude's crackers. _She thought, walking stiffly out the door.

XXX

**Storm's POV**

_"What was that? You had her, boss you had her!" _Moku growled.

Storm chuckled.

"Oh, don't you worry, Moku. I've got her right where I want her." He grinned, pulling his X-Transceiver from his pocket.

"Trust me."

XXX

**Hailey's POV**

Her heart began to slow as she left the café. It was reviving. "Okay, Hailey, just go back to the-" Hailey's voice trailed off when she saw Lilly sitting by the gym doors, scanning the area for her.

"Lilly!" Hailey scolded, angry that she'd disobeyed her and left the room.

Lilly's head snapped to Hailey, her tail instantly beginning to wag when she saw Hailey.

"What are you doing out of the gym?" She demanded.

"Gla!" Lilly cried, ignoring her anger.

Hailey sighed, "you're hopeless."

Lilly grinned, gesturing to her poke ball belt that laid on the ground beside her.

"You brought everyone? Why?"

Lilly shrugged, nosing the belt towards her.

Hailey picked it up, slowly reattaching it to her waist.

"Okay… Anyways, how 'bout we go hang around route 45 for a while."

Lilly tilted her head. Hailey gritted her teeth.

"Just do it, it'll count as my birthday present from you." She insisted, gesturing for the ice type to follow her.

Lilly shrugged and complied, obediently following Hailey to route 45. Hailey ignored the townsfolk as they told her things like, "happy birthday, Hailey!" and "congrats on beating Clair, Hailey." She cared only about getting away from Blackthorn at this point.

Lilly looked up from Hailey's side, looking concerned.

"I'll explain later," Hailey assured. "Right now we just need to… step out for a while. We'll be back by supper time."

Lilly seemed to relax with this.

_At least I hope we only stay out 'till supper time. _Hailey thought to herself as she crossed the bridge that led out of Blackthorn.

"Once we find a good spot to sit down I'll tell you what happened at the café." She said, walking faster.

Lilly sped up as well, not wanting to fall behind. Lilly's ears pricked and she seemed to tense up as they walked.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

Lilly didn't respond, she just held a worried expression and began to move quicker. Hailey began to sweat again, starting to jog to keep up with the ice type.

Lilly's eyes widened and she began to sprint; Hailey did the same, barely keeping up with her.

"L-Lilly! Slow down!" Hailey spluttered as she nearly tripped over her own two feet.

"Gla!" She protested, a wild look in her typically serene eyes.

Now Hailey was getting scared.

SNAP.

Hailey stiffened; she now heard it too.

Lilly swerved into a corner, panting as she skidded to a halt, a guarded expression on her face; similar to the expression that she'd had when Hailey first found her in the Champions' Forest. Hailey did the same, knowing that Lilly knew more than she did.

A cold silence reigned over the area, only the occasional clinks of Lilly's locket thumping against her chest reminded Hailey that she wasn't having a nightmare.

FLASH! Hailey opened her mouth to scream, but a gun pointed to her head silenced it. Three white haired men wearing ninja-like clothing surrounded Lilly and Hailey, each with a gun and six loaded pokeballs displayed on their belts. Hailey was too stunned to speak, as was Lilly. Hailey did not need them to introduce themselves.

Back in Crown City, these men were the executers.

They killed the unruly citizens.

They were the ones that should've killed Hailey seven years ago.

They were the Shadow Triad.

None of them ever spoke, (or at least that's what she heard) and they could blend easily into their surroundings.

She blinked hard to stop the tunnel vision that was coming on. She could not afford to blank out in this situation.

A low growl eventually sounded from Lilly. She was braver than Hailey, not afraid to die if she died honorably. Typically, Hailey never let other people or Pokémon intimidate her like this. All the time she spent with Clair and the other gym trainers had made her virtually fearless.

It's almost as if the Shadow Triad's presence retriggered her old silence and obedience that had been whipped, tasered, and yelled at her for the first ten years of her life.

At last, the person that she thought would never appear in her life ever again came into the tiny bubble that the Shadow Triad had created. The cropped green hair; the forest green eyes; the Zoroark: it was Storm. He wore a smirk and held a black wig in his left hand.

Her reoccurring nightmares of the contest massacre came to mind.

"I… I got out of Unova fair and square, _Sam_. Leave. It's over. It's been over for seven years." Hailey said quietly.

"Ceon!" Lilly snarled in agreement, her icy fur sticking up aggressively.

Zoroark yipped in amusement at Lilly's chiming, causing a vein to bulge on her forehead. She barely restrained herself from going after the arrogant Zoroark.

Storm looked first at Lilly. "Even after all these years… she hasn't changed a bit," He observed, turning to Hailey. "But you, _Jane_, you have developed some… disciplinary issues… and quite frankly, I find it amusing and even a little bit cute that you thought this was over." He said, taking a pace forwards.

Hailey backed up until her back was hugging the rock wall behind her.

"But, it was never really over, Hailey."

**SOOOOOOO sorry that this one's so late! I've been swamped lately… -_- But I hope that this one turned out okay… REVIEW! Ps, this story is exactly 31,654 words and is 83 pages long on WORD!**


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